the apostacy of Papal Rome: That in case of any vacancy in this trust, by the decease of any one or more of the above-mentioned trustees, the place or places shall be filled up, from time to time, and as occasion may require, by the surviving trustees or trustee, or by the executors of the survivor of them: that the trustees shall appoint the preacher of Lincoln's Inn for the time being, or some other able divine of the church of England, to preach this lecture: that the lecture shall be preached every year in the chapel of Lincoln's Inn (if the Society give leave), and on the following days, viz. the first Sunday after Michaelmas term, the Sunday next before, and the Sunday next after Hilary term: that the lecturer shall not preach the said lecture longer than for the term of four years, apd shall not again be nominated to preach the same and, when the term of four years is expired, that the said lecturer shall print and publish, or cause to be printed and published, all the sermons or lectures that shall have been so preached by him.

Dr.

The first course of lectures delivered in consequence of this Institution, was by the present venerable Bishop of Worcester, and the volume was published in 1772. Samuel Hallifax, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester and St. Asaph, preached the next, and published his lectures in 1776. Dr. Bagot successively dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and bishop of Bristol, Norwich, and St. Asaph, succeeded as lecturer, and printed his Lectures in 1780. Dr. Apthorpe followed, and published two volumes of Lectures in 1786. From that time there is a considérable chasm, which according to the direction of the founder, ought to have been filled up by at least three volumes of lectures. How this happened we are ignorant, though, no doubt, from the high character of the trustees the mission can be very satisfactorily explained.

We now turn to a consideration of the lectures before us, which do honour both to the Institution and to the ingenuity and industry of the lecturer.

Sermon I. is entituled, "Contrast between Pagan Divination and True Prophecy."-Text, Isaiah xlvi. 9, 10. Remember the former things of old; for I am God and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

The argument of this lecture is as follows:

"General

"General Introduction.-On the Nature of Prophecy; and the Contrast between the false Arts of DIVINATION and the true Spirit of Prophecy.-The strict Laws against false Prophets among the Jews.-Conduct of the Heathen Oracles.-Their Arts and yet their Failure.-Evil Spirits supposed to conduct them.True Prophecies given without Solicitation, and preserved in public Writings.--Sibylline Oracles.-Mahomet.-True Prophecy characterized.-Continued throughout the Scriptures."

We shall content ourselves with making one extract from this luminous discourse, but it will be found one of considerable importance and a necessary introduction to all that follows.

"PROPHECY (says Mr. Nares) may be usefully characterized, as a miracle of which the testimony remains in itself. It is a miracle, because to foretel events, to which no chain of circumstances leads, no train of probabilities points, is as much be yond the power of human agents, as to cure diseases with a word, or even to raise the dead. But that actions of the latter kind were ever performed can be proved, at a distant period, only by witnesses; against whose testimony cavils may be raised, or causes for doubt advanced. But the man who reads a prophecy, and perceives tho corresponding event, is himself the witness of the iniracle; he sees that thus it is, and that thus, by human means, it could not possibly have been.

"A prophecy yet nnfulfilled is a miracle at present incomplete; and these, if numerous, may be considered as the seeds of future conviction, ready to grow up and bear their fruit, whenever the corresponding facts shall be exhibited on the theatre of the world. Will the sceptic then say that a man should disbelieve even his own knowledge, when it bears witness to circumstances so extraordinary? As well might he say it, as reject the testimony of miracles, merely because it gives evidence to facts of very unusual occurrence. Yet, in the instance of prophecy,

absurdity can hardly go so far.

"The Holy Scriptures are thickly sown with the seeds of pro phecy, from the beginning even to the end; and these have been gradually developed throughout the history of man; and will be more and more unfolded to the consummation of things, respecting this present world. A series of prophets, it has already been observed, was given to the nation of Israel, to preserve them from the abominable superstitions, and idolatrous divinations, of the nations among whom they dwelt. But this was not the origin of prophecy. It originated in the earliest period of the world, from God himself, who foretold to Adam and the patriarchs the distant hopes of restoration and redemption, provided for the human The prophetic spirit was next communicated to the patriarchs, and rested more especially upon Moses; whose inspiration

race.

had at once a retrospect to the period of creation, and a view to the redemption of man; and even to the most distant fates of the chosen people whom he had conducted out of Egypt. It was im parted, through a series of prophets, till the completion of the canon of the ancient scriptures. It was again ponred out, without measure, upon our blessed Saviour, and was continued to his apostles, till the second canon of the scriptures was also closed, by the revelation given to St. John.

"In this extended scheme of continuation, if we find that 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy*;' if we find a frequent and almost a constant reference to a divine person, in due time to be revealed; to a spiritual kingdom to be founded by him; to many events and circumstances relating to that kingdom, which we can prove to have been actually realized; and to others, of which the completion is on the soundest principles to be expected; can we hesitate to believe that the whole proceeds from him who is God, and there is none else; who is God, and there is none like him; who declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, AND I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE?'

The title of the second Sermon is, "Prophecy the bond of Connection between the two Covenants."

The text is Luke xxiv. 44. "And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me."

Of this discourse we have the following analysis:

"Our Saviour's own interpretation of the prophecies; extremes of error between the Judaizing Christians who thought the first covenant still necessary, and those of later times who would rashly disjoin the two covenants: prophecy the great bond of connection bet. een them; general plan of their lectures, comprehending, 1st, The prophecies relating to Christ; 2dly, To his disciples and church. Even this plan omits many branches of prophecy. sketch of those omitted: 1. The first division entered upon, and the view of prophecy begun; from that to Adam, to Isaac, and carried to the end of the life of Jacob."

It appears that our Lord had been accustomed to explain and apply the prophecies which related to himself for the instruction of his disciples. Yet these discourses do not exist. To account for their not being preserved,

* Rev. xix. 10,

is perhaps difficult; but the learned lecturer has here offered a very happy conjecture:

6

"It seems most probable (says he) that the omission was intended to stimulate the diligence of Christians; who, being thus informed, on the highest authority, that such a series of prophecies does exist, might be led to search the scriptures for them, and, by those enquiries, might become more learned in the word of God. When our Saviour thus taught his disciples in person, it was necessary that much instruction should be conveyed in a short period, and their minds fully prepared with this kind of knowledge, that they might be induced, under all external discouragements, to continue together in Jerusalem, until they should be endued with power from on high.' But, where leisure and opportunity are allowed, it is perhaps more conducive, on the whole, to the good of religion, that men should search the scriptures at large, which lie before them, than that they should receive an epitome of all the knowledge required, even from an infallible instructor. Whether this be the reason or not, the fact undoubtedly is, that so it has been ordained by Providence, for wise and good reasons certainly, (whether we can discover them or not) that these inestimable instructions of our Saviour have been withheld from us; and we are left to search out for ourselves, what we are told was the purport of these divine discourses, concerning the application of the ancient prophecies to him. This was indeed the general injunction of our Saviour, when no peculiar circumstances led him to be more exact in his mode of teaching: "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me*!' He was ready from the first to abide by that proof, even in the hands of his enemies, which he himself thought proper to lay open to his disciples."

The following observatious upon the famous prophecy of Jacob," the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until SHILOH come;" are extremely judicious, and, in part, original.

"Whatever be the exact meaning of the name SHILOH, (for respecting its etymology interpreters have differed †) it appears most evident from the context, that some illustrious person was intended; and that this person could be no other than the MESSIAH, even the Jewish interpreters have agreed; though the clear and manifest limit of his advent, in point of time, they have, for their own purposes, endeavoured to remove. Yet, if we ask whether Judah hath at this hour a lawgiver or a sceptre among his posterity, or whether he has had them since the destruction of

* John v. 39.

Whether from rhw, to give peace, Parkhurst; or hw, to send, which Jerom seems to have taken.

Jerusalem,

Jernsalem, I know not of any subterfuge to which, with even a shadow of probability, they can have recourse. So decisive were the words of prophecy on this subject, even at the early period of Jacob's death. If we consider also the circumstances of that patriarch, at the time of giving this prediction, we shall see still further cause to wonder at the foresight with which he was endowed; confessing that nothing less than divine inspiration could thus have illuminated his mind. So far from any seeptre being, at that time, in the hands, or in the hopes, of Jacob's family, they were then strangers in a foreign land. According to any human powers of conjecture, there was no appearance, or shadow of probability, that any one of the patriarch's family would be the founder of a royal house; still less that Judah, in particular, would be selected by Providence to obtain that eminent distinction.

"But the hopes of Jacob were not vague; he remembered the vision at BETHEL (formerly called Luz.) and he knew expressly that Canaan was to be the seat of dominion to his posterity. This he had declared explicitly to Joseph. God Almighty,' said he, appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me; and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and I will give THIS LAND to thy seed after thee *. Thus mindful of the promise made at an early period of his life, the patriarch was indulged, at its close, with a further insight into the designs of Heaven; and saw not only a sceptre existing in his family, but that sceptre determined to the line of JUDAH. Ile saw also, at a period still more remote, the cessation of that government, though not yet begun; and he beheld, finally, the coming of the promised SAVIOUR, after this predicted reign of Judah should have ceased. So particular an instance of foresight baffles all that can be fancied or alledged, on the notion of conjecture; and marks a knowledge which could have been derived only from the Fountain of all knowledge."

The third Sermon pursues the consideration of the prophecies concerning Christ from the death of Jacob to the journey in the wilderness: text 1 Peter i. 10. "Of which "salvation the prophets have enquired, and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you."

We have here" further remarks on Jacob's prophecy. Establishment of the Theocracy in which the Supreme Governor of Israel was Christ. Institution of the Passover. TYPES explained. That of the Passover in particular. Iraclites, Types of Christians. Connection of the two Covenants. The Divine Government of Israel in the Wilderness, and in the Symbol of the

* Gen. xlviii. 4.

Brazen