[53] Multa vera, inquit, evadere. Quid, quòd multo plura, falsa? Nónne ipsa varietas, quæ est propria fortunæ, fortunam esse causam, non naturam, docet? De Div. l. ii. p. 295. This, methinks, looks like sense.
[54] See the ancient apologists, who are frequent and large on this subject; and, of the moderns, see especially Huetii Dem. Evang. Prop. IX.—Bishop Kidder’s Dem. of the Messias, c. ii. p. 17, 18. London, 1726, fol.—Dr. Clarke’s Evidences of Nat. and Rev. Religion.—Pensées de M. Pascal, p. 108.
[55] I take these examples to be more in point, than those given by Bishop Butler in his Analogy, P. II c. vii. p. 386. Lond. 1740: not but those, too, have their weight.
[56] Grotius.
[57] Serm. II.
[58] Ἀπ’ αἰῶνος. Luke i. 70.
[59] This use and intent of prophecy was seen, and admirably expressed, by the great M. Pascal—“Les propheties sont mêlées de propheties particulieres, et de celles du Messie, afin que les propheties du Messie ne fussent pas sans preuves, et que les propheties particulieres ne fussent pas sans fruit.” Pensées, p. 112.
[60] The Lord himself shall give you a sign, Isai. vii. 14.—This SIGN (and the extraordinary introduction of it, in the words quoted, indicates no less) had plainly a recondite and even complicated meaning!
1. As addressed to Ahaz, it was simply an ASSURANCE, that his deliverance from his two great enemies was now at hand.
2. As addressed to the house of David—Hear ye now, O house of David—it was a TYPE of Christ.