THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PROPHECY. "NOT THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD."-1 COR. II. 6. SCIANT IGITUR, QUI PROPHETAS NON INTELLIGUNT, NEC SCIRE DESIDERANT, JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 1862. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PROPHECY. JANUARY 1862. ART I.-GOD'S PURPOSE AS UNFOLDED IN PROPHECY. God's purpose branches out into several most distinct directions, spreading itself over the whole history of our race. Like the river of Eden, it first pours itself down from heights inaccessible to man, and then is parted and divides itself into many streams. It is along the banks of these streams that prophets have wandered, or, sitting down beneath the trees that fringe them, have sung of what they saw and heard. In other words, the different lines into which God's purpose divides itself are the special subjects of prophetic revelation. Most of these lines are carried through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation; and in following them out we are enabled to disentangle and classify the apparently confused or intermingled statements of the prophetic word, as well as to read the history of man in the light of God's manifold purpose. For, on the one hand, prophecy, interpreted without reference to the great lines of the Divine purpose which run through it all, must be darkness, not light, confusion, not order; and, on the other, history, arranged irrespective of, or even contrary to the great prophetic lines, must be unsatisfactory and defective-nay, in a great measure useless, in so far as the lessons or truths are concerned which God, by history, when rightly read, meant to convey. There are several great lines of prophetic truth running through all Scripture; and in connexion with these several smaller ones. These great prophetic lines run parallel to each other, frequently come into contact, and at no time can they be said to be wholly irrespective of each other; yet they are VOL. XIV. separate and distinct. Each may be traced singly, nay, ought to be so, if we would preserve God's order; yet all of them may also be viewed in their bearings upon each other. These prophetic lines may be classified in some such way as the following:-(1.) One takes up God's purpose respecting creation-I mean this material earth-its first calling out of nothing, its ruin, its present condition, its future destiny; (2.) Another takes up God's purpose concerning Him who is spoken of as the woman's seed, and presents to us His sufferings and His glory; (3.) Another follows out God's purpose regarding the Church, in her varied history as the chosen of the Father, passing on through conflict and tribulation to the kingdom; (4.) Another is occupied with the history of the "world"-I mean the seed of the serpent, the ungodly-that world which lieth in wickedness, making known to us the condition of its millions for ages; (5.) Another follows out the history of Israel from the calling of Abraham down to the day of their final blessedness; (6.) Another traces out Antichrist in all his changeful aspects of evil, down to his last exaltation and sudden destruction; (7.) Another fixes our eye on Satan himself, the great deceiver, shewing him to us in Eden, and never allowing us to lose sight of him till he is hurled into the burning lake. These seven main lines, with their subordinate branches, embrace the whole of the prophetic field; and under them might, in one form or another, be arranged all the events which we are sometimes in the habit of looking upon as standing alone. On these seven threads might be strung the whole treasure-house of prophetic gems, in goodly order and array. And it is with some such definite arrangement before us,-with some such chart in our hand, that we shall be best able to find our way through the intricacies of prophecy, either fulfilled or unfulfilled. These seven prophetic lines contain many things in which they wholly differ from each other; but they possess one feature in common. It is this-They divide themselves into two parts; the former part being entirely the reverse of the latter. Take what we may call the creation-line. It is made up of two parts, the one dark, the other bright. Take the line relating to Israel and Israel's history. It has two parts also, the one sad, the other joyful. For ages Israel's prophetic stream flows gloomy and turbid; then it changes and pours itself along in transparent beauty. The point at which this change takes place in all of these lines is the same,-the same in respect of time, and the same in respect of that event which produces the change. At the very time when earth casts off the curse and begins to exult in the blessing, at that very time Israel also puts off her weeds, and clothes herself with her beautiful garments. At the time when the Church's tribulation closes and her glory begins, the world's millions fling away their idols and worship the living God. The same era that sees Christ glorified, sees also Antichrist smitten and Satan bound. The event which intersects these lines, marking off their parts by dividing them in the way above referred to, is the coming of the Lord himself. It is by nothing less than this great arrival that the division in these seven lines is effected; it is this that introduces the alteration in their character; it is this that accomplishes the transformation by means of which their later portions present such a contrast to their earlier. When Christ comes again, He renews creation, making its future ages a blessed contrast to its past and present. When Christ comes, He ends His Church's sorrowful widowhood, and places her upon His throne, making her history after His advent a wondrous contrast to her history before it. And so is it, as we shall see, in regard to all the other lines which we have specified. Let us now take up the first of the seven lines just pointed out, viz., the creation-line. This commences with the first chapter of Genesis, and ends with the last of Revelation. It presents creation to us in three aspects: first, the original and perfect state; secondly, the ruined state; and, thirdly, the restored state. To these three there are frequent allusions throughout Scripture, though it is specially with the last of these that the prophets are occupied, and it is for its introduction that the Lord is to come in His glory. There are passages which refer to creation as a whole,— heaven and earth, and there are others which take it up in its several parts, such as the sun, the sea, the air, the productions of the soil. It will be better and more orderly to bring before you the general passages first, before proceeding to the more special. In both classes,-both the general and special, -we shall find the same characteristics, and the same division or intersection by the one event common to all—the advent of the Lord. : The general passages are the following: (1.) Rom. viii. 19-23. Here we learn that creation is in a state of "earnest expectation" or eager longing for a certain event or era in which it is to be peculiarly blessed. This event or era is the manifestation of the sons of God, that |