capacity of infallible religious teachers in the LECT. I. ancient Church. And in the quotations made in the New Testament from the Old, those are comprehended under the title, who, though not belonging to the prophetical order, were nevertheless favoured with Divine revelations, which they published for the benefit of others. Thus David, who was not a prophet in the official sense of the term, is nevertheless called by that name, Acts ii. 30.

Thirdly, the word is used of those who, under the influence of Divine inspiration, gave expression in a lofty, energetic, and poetic style, to the truths with which they were inspired, or to certain truths respecting God and divine things, which they were supernaturally excited to rehearse. It appears to be employed in this sense in reference to the seventy men of the elders of Israel, who were selected to assist Moses in the discharge of his official duties, of whom it is said "that, when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied and ceased not;" with respect to which exhibition, as continued in the camp by Eldad and Medad, Moses disinterestedly exclaimed, "Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Num. xi. 29.) In this sense Miriam is called a prophetess, because she was inspired to lead the female choir by which the discomfiture of the Egyptians was celebrated, (Exod. xv. 20, 21.); and the choirs of prophets

LECT. I. mentioned 1 Sam. x. 5, 10-15, to which Saul joined himself, and in whose exercises he participated, seem to have been similarly occupied. To this species of prophesying must also be referred the song of Zechariah, Luke i

Revelation.

Fourthly, the word prophecy is also sometimes taken in the stricter sense of foretelling future events, in which case those of whom it is predicated had these events revealed to them with the express command to make them known to others; respecting which Amos writes-" Surely "the Lord God will do nothing; but he revealeth "his secret unto his servants the prophets. The "lion hath roared, who will not fear? The "Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (iii. 7, 8.)

Of most of these acceptations of this important term, and certain minor modifications of it, examples occur in the New Testament; but it would be improper to anticipate in this place what belongs to the xapiopara conferred upon the Apostolic Church, a particular examination of which will occupy our attention in a future lecture. What has been adduced is sufficient to show that the state of the persons who are called prophets, or who are spoken of as having prophesied, was of an extraordinary character, and that, in most cases, they were inspired interpreters of the Divine will.

To express the supernatural impartation of truth to the mind, the terms Revelation,,

aπоkáλviç, are employed-the last of which_LECT. I. Jerome asserts is not to be found within the compass of ancient pagan literature, but was coined by the LXX., in order to express the force of the corresponding term in Hebrew.* It properly signifies the rolling back of a veil, or such a removal of it from any object before which it has hung, that it shall no longer intervene between that object and the subject of vision, to prevent his contemplation of it. Though the verb 7, aromanrreur, to reveal, is frequently followed by the things said to be revealed, it is evident we are not to conceive of any effect being produced upon them by the act of revelation. Truth, like its great Author, is immutable; it consists of pure celestial light, and, like that of the sun, is itself equally unaffected by the existence or by the removal of any obstructions which may intercept its communication. Whatever change took place in man, and was the result of a Divine influence, directly and immediately operating upon his mind so as to turn his attention to the objects of revelation, gave him such a perception of them as was requisite to secure their definite presentation to others in the forms either of ordinary or prophetic language, and was accompanied with overpowering, perceptible evidence, that what had thus been acquired was really communicated from heaven. It is on this principle

* Morren's Biblical Theology, vol. i. p. 180.

LECT. I. we are to account for and interpret such metaphorical phrases as uncovering the ears or the eyes of any one. Thus 1 Sam. ix. 15; 2 Sam. vii. 27: "For thou, O Lord God of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant,"

lit. hast uncovered the ear : גְלִיתָה אֶת־אֹזֶן עַבְדֶךְ

of thy servant, i. e. caused him to perceive, or opened his mind, and thus imparted to him the knowledge of thy kind and gracious purpose. In like manner it is said, that the Lord opened,

, uncovered or unveiled, the eyes of Balaam, Num. xxii. 31; and that infatuated prophet, describing his state as the recipient of Divine revelations, speaks of himself as "the man whose eyes are open;", the man of unveiled eyes, i. e. he, from whose mind the veil had been removed, which naturally hides from mortals the purposes and future operations of Jehovah. (Num. xxiv. 3, 16.) For this reason supernatural discoveries of truth are designated revelations, 1 Cor. xiv. 6, 26; 2 Cor. xii. 1, 7 ; Gal. i. 12; ii. 2; Eph. iii. 3; Rev. i. 1; and of the glorious Author of these communications it is said, "He giveth wisdom to the wise, and "knowledge to them that know understanding. "He revealeth the deep and secret things; he "knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light "dwelleth with him." Dan. ii. 21, 22.

Other terms and phrases, such as-"Thus saith the Lord:" "the Lord spake;" "the Lord commanded;" "the word of the Lord came;"

"the Lord appeared;" "the Lord revealed LECT. I. himself;" "the Lord showed me;" "the Spirit speaketh," &c.; are all more or less expressive of the different ways in which the Divine will has been revealed to mankind. In general, it may be observed of them in this place, that they most explicitly assert the fact, that extraordinary Divine communications were made to men under the circumstances described in the sacred narrative; and it would be contrary to all the laws of sound exegesis to interpret such phraseology either of mere natural events, of self-cogitation on the part of those who are stated to have been the subjects of them, or of feigned intercourse with heaven. To these hypotheses, as well as to some others of a similar description, recourse has been had both by those who deny that any supernatural interference has ever taken place on the part of the Deity for the instruction of the human family; and by those who profess in general terms to admit such interference, but whose views, as developed in their exposition of particular cases, evince that they have no definite or fixed belief in its reality. Of the two classes of persons, the former is certainly the more consistent; for to allow that the Scriptures contain a Divine revelation, and yet, in endeavouring to account for the peculiar phenomena connected with individual instances in which this revelation is asserted to have been made, to explain them away, or so to lower them as to bring them

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