Primeval prophecy concerning the Messiah—Errors in the translation of it, in different versions—Correct in the Septuagint—Tradition of this prophecy in the Ante and Post Diluvian ages—Its clearer development in the Patriarchal Age—Dr. Lamb’s explanation of the word _Shiloh_—Prophecy of Balaam in the Critarchal Age—Predictions of Moses and Hannah—The glorious revelations of the Monarchal Age—The testimony of the Psalms to the Messiah—Explanation of the last words of David from Kennicott—Application of the term _Sun_ to Jehovah—Testimony of the Prophecies to the Messiah—Isaiah, the Evangelical Prophet—The predictions at the close of the Monarchal and the commencement of the Hierarchal Age—Testimony among the Heathen. In the Introduction to the first part of this Dissertation, we very shortly alluded to the tradition and prophecies concerning the first Advent of the Messiah, which were prevalent in the world before the era of Christianity. That, in consequence of the prophecies, traces of such a tradition, from a very remote period, should be found among all nations, will not be deemed improbable by those who attentively read and sincerely believe the records of Inspiration. There indeed, we find that the first sweet note of Jubilee which sounded in the ears of Fallen Man, was the distant promise of Redemption by the hands of a Mediator, announced in the Divine prediction of the punishment to be inflicted on the Author of Sin by the Seed of the woman:—“HE shall bruise thy _Head_, and thou shalt bruise his _Heel_;” Gen. iii. 15. The meaning of this very remarkable passage is greatly obscured in our vulgar translation by the use of the neuter pronoun _It_ (Ipsum), instead of the masculine _He_ (Ipse), which clearly refers to the _Seed_ of the woman, who is _Christ_. The Seventy Interpreters have correctly employed the masculine pronoun _He_ (ἄυτος) in the Greek Version; while, in the Latin Vulgate, the feminine pronoun _She_ (Ipsa) has very absurdly been inserted, as if the prediction referred to the _Woman_ herself and not to her Seed! Some have attributed this error to Josephus; but we do not think it is at all borne out by the passage referred to in his Antiquities, although it is quite evident that he was utterly ignorant of the true meaning of the prophecy.[41] To us, it appears to savour more of a Rabbinical or Roman Catholic gloss; be this, however, as it may, it is evident that had the translators or editors of the Latin version remembered that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” they would not have committed such an egregious mistake.