PREFACE.
No apology is
necessary for engaging in the investigation of the subjects, which are
briefly treated of in the following sheets. These matters are of deep
interest to every inquiring Christian; and the character of the
Scriptures, in the view of the world, is in no small degree concerned
with them. Unbelievers reproach us with giving credit to a book which is
full of enigmas, and allege that every one interprets it according to
his own fancy, and so as to support his own particular opinions. Nor is
this all. They even Charge ambiguity upon the Scriptures themselves; and
they are apparently moved to do this, by the ever varying, discrepant,
and sometimes even opposite conclusions of expositors, No book, they
say, which is plainly and honestly written, could possibly afford room
for such diversity of opinion.
Particularly
have such charges been made against the prophecies. These have
been compared to the ambiguous vaticinations of the heathen orncles, and
pronounced to be deserving of merely the same credit which is given to
them by enlightened minds.
One might reply to all this
by saying, that the abuse of a thing is no good argument against
the right and proper use of it; that the mistakes of expositors are not
chargeable upon the original writers, unless those mistakes are
unavoidably connected with the expressions of those writers; and
finally, that when men, ill-informed or ignorant of the true nature of
scriptural language, misinterpret or pervert it, it can be no good
ground of objection to the sacred books as they are in themselves.
If, in
addition to such a reply, it can be shown that the prophecies,
against which the charges in question are specially directed, are
susceptible of a plain, fair, and natural interpretation, and that
historical facts accord with such an interpretation, the
stumbling block that is cast in our way would seem to be removed.
An attempt to
do this, in regard to some of the more important prophetic passages,
which have of late years been the subject of frequent and animated
discussion, is made in the following pages. To write a large volume on
such topics would be comparatively easy; to select, combine, and exhibit
matter appropriate to a small one, is a more difficult task.
If the path in which I travel
should be thought by some to be new, I hope this will not prevent
any reader from giving it a leisurely and thorough examination, before
he abandons it. If some of the results, in this little treatise,
should appear new to the reader, I must suggest to him, that they
are not the consequence of seeking after novelties, but simply of
following out the plain and obvious principles of interpretation. If he
does not find it to be so after examination, let him condemn the book.
If there be
any Bible for us, it is one which consists of human language,
interpreted in a manner consonant with the laws of language. My
principal object is, to protest against the substitution of fancy and
conjecture in the interpretation of the Scriptures, in the place of
established principle and rule. With a sincere love for all that is new,
whenever it is better then the old, I am still, throughout this book, a
thorough Conservative in respect to the fixed and immutable
principles of reasonable hermeneutics. I hope for a hearing---I will not
despair even of approbation---by those who love this species of
Conservatism. At all events, if it must be that any will be disposed
to turn away from the subject with only a slight examination of it, and
thus decline to give me a fair opportunity to gain their assent, I would
At least say
It is time
for the churches, in reference to the matters now before us, to seek
some refuge from the tumultuous ocean on which they have of late been
tossed. To those who long for a quiet harbor, a chart, which offers even
any tolerable grounds of hope that the course toward such a haven is
marked out, will not be unwelcome.
I make no promises. I have
satisfied myself as to the course which ought to be pursued; and in this
state of mind it is natural to cherish a hope, that a process of
thinking and reasoning, similar to that through which l have passed, may
satisfy others. With this hope I give my little book to the public.
Some of the views, which are
exhibited in the following pages, may be found in the early volumes of
the Biblical Repository, ranged under different titles. But they are
here repeated with many modifications and additions. My present
apprehension is, that continued and often repeated study and reflection
have corrected those views, in some respects; if not, they have at least
served to expand them. There is, moreover, some important advantage in
having them brought together, and exhibited so that a comparison of them
may be easily made.
The introduction of a few
Hebrew and Greek words Was unavoidable, in the execution of my plan. For
the most part these are so managed, as to occasion no serious
embarrassment to the well-informed English reader.
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Thus far the preface to the
first edition of this work. A second being now demanded, I take occasion
to say, that I have carefully revised the whole; made a number of
corrections which sometimes qualify, and at other times set aside, the
diction originally employed; and in a variety of cases, I have made
additions, some of which at least will not, as I trust, be deemed
unimportant. The criticisms of friends, and the objections of opponents,
have as yet reached me only in a very few cases. Most of the additions,
therefore, are only such as were prompted by my own mind, after revising
the whole work.
It would be
easy to swell the volume to a considerable size, and still leave many
things unsaid, which might be appropriately said. But a large book would
defeat some of the purposes that I have in view, and anticipate other
things which I hope ere long to publish in a different way.
M. STUART.
Theol. Seminary, Andover,
Sept, 10, 1842.
