If the future course of events had been clearly marked out and formally laid down, all motives to present duty would have been obliterated ; no room would have been left for the exercise of faith, of hope, of fear, and love ; all thoughts, all feelings, all desires, would have been absorbed in the overpowering sense of expectation. But enough is revealed to support faith and animate hope. The remoter future is seen afar off in promises indistinct yet glorious. Confidence is bespoken for these distant predictions, by the clear and precise terms which portray some nearer event, fulfilled in that gen- eration as a sign and token that all shall be accom- plished in its season. Heathen divination, when it re- fers to any event which is near at hand, uses language remarkable for its ambiguity, but speaks distinctly of those matters which are reserved for the distant fut- ure. Those who spake in the name of Jehovah pursue the directly opposite course. Their language is much more express, distinct, and clear when they speak of events in the nearer future than in describing what shall take place in the latter days. Prophecy of this nature would not raise its voice at all times, lest that voice from its familiarity should be unheeded; but at every critical and eventful period prophecy led them on — "a pillar of cloud in the brighter daylight of their purer and better times; a pillar of fire gleaming in the darker night of their calamity or sin" (Dean Magee).
The moral results of prophecy would have been lost if the historical element had been clear prior to the oc- currence of the prefigured events. A certain veil must necessarily hang over the scene until its predictions passed into realities. The best form in which a proph- ecy can be delivered is to leave the main circumstances unintelligible before the fulfilment, yet so clear as to be easily recognised after the event, It was necessary as a touchstone for the faith and patience of the Church that a certain disguise should veil the coming events till they become facts in providence. "Whatever private information the prophet might enjoy, the Spirit of God would never permit him to disclose the ultimate intent and particular meaning of the prophecv" (bishop Hors- ley).
4. Prophetical Language. — This takes its hue and coloring from the political condition of the kingdom, from the local standpoint of the writer, from the posi- tion of those to whom the message was delivered.
To say that prophetical language vsjiguitttive is sim- ply to say that it is used for a spiritual purpose, and directed to spiritual ends. Our ordinary language in reference to mental and moral subjects is founded on analogy or resemblance. In early times language is nearly all figure ; natural symbols are employed to de- note common facts. It is the necessity of man's state that scarcely any fact connected with the mind or with spiritual truth can be described but in language bor- rowed from material things. The visible world is the dial-plate of the invisible. God has stamped his own
image on natural things, which he employs to describe and illustrate his own nature and his dealings with the Church. The Author of the spiritual kingdom is also the Author of the natural kingdom, and both kingdoms develop themselves after the same laws. Nature is a witness for the kingdom of God. Whatever exists in the earthly is found also in the heavenly kingdom. The religious teachers of the Hebrew nation might adopt the apostle's language, " We see through a glass ;" we consider, we contemplate by means of a mirror in .a dark saying (1 Cor. xiii, 12). All who held the pro- phetical office could in a measure adopt the language of our Lord, "I will open my mouth in similitudes; I will give vent to things kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matt, xiii, 35).
While prophecy frequently employed natural objects and scenery as the means of impressing the memory, instructing the judgment, interesting the heart, ami charming the imagination, it made large use of the present and past condition of the nation, of the Leviti- cal institutions and ceremonies, as symbols in represent- ing good things to come. Thus we may observe —
(1.) The future is described in terms of the past. The known is made use of to give shape and form to the un- known. We have a striking instance of this in Hos. (viii, 13 ; ix, 3) : " They shall return to Egypt." " Ephra- im shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria." The old state of bondage and oppression should come back upon them. The covenant whereby it. was promised that the people should not return was virtually cancelled. They had made themselves as the heathen; they should be in the condition of the hea- then. Eor in Hos. xi, 5 we read : " He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king; because they refused to return." They would not have God for their king; therefore the Assyrian should be their king, and a worse captivity than that of Egypt should befall them. In accordance with this, the teachers of false doctrine and the abetters of cor- ruption in the Asiatic churches are spoken of as a re- suscitation of Jezebel and Balaam (Rev. ii, 14, 20).