Jeremiah, give a clear account of the events by which they were fulfilled. 6 Cyrus, king of Persia, the conqueror of Babylon and the deliverer of the Jews, was prophesied of by name nearly two centuries before his birth. In the counsels of God he was pre-ordained to be the Lord's shepherd, to perform all his pleasure-" even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."7 Such were the words of the prophecy delivered by Isaiah; and who can wish for a more satisfactory account of their accomplishment than we find in the book of Ezra ? The genuineness of the books of the Old Testament and the general truth of its history being allowed (an allowance which no sound critic will refuse to make), we have only to compare one part of that volume with another, in order to satisfy ourselves of the lucid character of these and many other prophecies, and of the exactness with which they have been fulfilled. What could be more precise than the language in which our Lord foretold his own sufferings, death, and resurrection, the unfaithfulness of the Apostle Peter, and the sending of the Holy Ghost the Comforter? And who can deny that the simple and explicit narrative of these events, contained in 6 Compare Jer. i, 14, 15; vi, 1; xxxiv, 2; xxv, 8—11; xxx, 10; xxxiii, 7; with 2 Kings xxv. ; 2 Chron. xxxvi.; Ezra i.; Dan. ix, 2. the New Testament itself, affords a satisfactory proof that Jesus was a true prophet? These observations, however, apply with peculiar force to that wondrous line of prophecy which runs through the Old Testament, and which distinctly relates to the Messiah himself that seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head.s Prophets who lived in various ages, and were wholly independent of each other-persons of different characters and conditions-are found severally contributing distinct portions to the general stock of information respecting the deliverer who was to come. Through their means the church is furnished with a prophetical description of its Head and Saviour, in a marvellous degree precise and comprehensive. His divine name and nature 9-his incarnation in the nature of man'-the nation,2 the tribe,3 and the family from which he was to spring -the preaching of his forerunner3—his virgin mother—the place of his birth' the date of his coming his righteous character the meekness, humility, and kindness of his disposition'-his matchless miracles — the unbelief and contempt to which he was exposed the treason of his familiar friend 4. his vicarious sufferings and violent death39 Isaiah ix. 6. Jer. xxiii, 6. 3 Gen. xlix, 10. 5 Isaiah x1, 3. Mal. iii, 1. 7 Micah v, 2. 8 Dan. ix, 25. 1 Isaiah xlii, 2, 3; 1, 6. 8 Gen. iii, 15. 8 2 Gen. xxii, 18. 1 Gen. iii, 15. 3 Isaiah liii, 13. 5 Isaiah liii, 3—7. 8 the peculiar circumstances by which it was attended; for example, the piercing of his hands and feet, the scornful motions and taunts of his enemies," the parting of his garments, the casting of lots for his vesture, and the vinegar given him to drink,'—his resurrection-his ascension2- his intercession-his eternal priesthood-his reign of glory—are all delineated by the pencil of prophecy. Let the student of scripture compare this delineation with the history of Jesus Christ as unfolded in the New Testament, and in the correspondence between the one and the other-in the perfect fitting-in of their respective parts, both prominent circumstances and minute particulars-he will find an evidence of the truth of his religion, of which the cavils of infidelity will never be able to deprive him. The prophecies respecting Christ and the history of our Saviour in the New Testament, have been elsewhere compared to a lock and key, of a structure so complex and extraordinary as to have no parallel in the world, and yet answering to each other with an easy and perfect exactness. We may now observe, in addition, that as the lock and key are passive under the hand of the mechanic who forms them, and have no power or tendency whatsoever to produce each other, so 6 Psalm xxii, 16. 9 Psalm lxix, 21. 2 Psalm lxviii, 18. 4 Psalm cx, 1. it is certain that neither were these prophecies produced by the events, nor the events occasioned by the prophecies. 1. So precise and extensive a correspondence between prophecy and history as is observable in the present example, might possibly induce a suspicion that the predictions had been forged after the events had happened, and were, in fact, a consequence of the history. But such a suspicion will readily vanish when the subject is examined. The scholar is well aware that the existence of these prophecies long before the date of the history is proved, first, by quotations made from the Old Testament, not only by the evangelists and apostles but by other Jewish writers, such as Philo and Josephus; secondly, by a Greek version of the whole Hebrew Scriptures made more than two hundred years before the Christian era; and thirdly, by the very language in which these prophecies were written-that pure Hebrew, which, when Christ was upon earth, the Jews had long since ceased either to speak or to write. But we have internal evidence of the same truth which is open to every discerning eye. The prophecies respecting our Saviour in the Old Testament are found scattered over a wide surface, and in numerous separate books. Some of them are brief declarations obliquely introduced-thrown in as hints by the wayand, although full of meaning, obscurely expressed. Sometimes they are mingled with predictions respecting the temporal concerns WITH HISTORY. of the Jews; sometimes they have a subordinate application to some figurative character 21 —such as David or Solomon; and as a whole they are curiously worked into that system of types, which may be described as the peculiar genius of the religion of the Hebrews. Had it not been for the key with which God has provided us in the New Testament, and which searches the most curious and hidden recesses of the lock, many parte of that lock would for ever have continued Lesest. It is an important principle, of which we operat never to lose sight in reference to Scripture prophecy, that it can be fully interpress of I by its events. 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