With regard to the controversial form under which the treatise appears, a word of explanation may be requisite. The writer having framed his views of prophecy on principles most at variance with those of the Jews, and being only a self-taught Hebraist, was anxious to know how far his exposition might be controverted by an acknowledged Hebrew scholar of the Jewish persuasion. Upon inquiry he was referred to his present opponent, as the fittest person for that purpose; and he had the satisfaction to find, that however they might differ in the plan of interpretation, yet his opponent could rarely challenge the accuracy or fidelity of his translation; which he acknowledged to be more in accordance with the Christian principle of exposition, than any he had previously met with. At the same time he declared the views it unfolded, to contain nothing likely to have any weight with a Jew; and readily pledged himself to answer those views, should the writer ever be disposed to publish them. The views and the answer are now before the reader. [Transcriber’s Note: Single-word Hebrew quotations in the original book are often rendered here in the form “A (or B)”, with the same word rendered in “A” and in “B”, but with the letters stored in opposite orders. This is to allow the same e-book to render properly in both HTML and PDF. The full-paragraph quotations should appear correct in all formats.] INTRODUCTION. “The testimony of Jesus in the spirit of prophecy.” Few, perhaps, of those who read the Scriptures are fully aware of the extent to which the language of them abounds in metaphor; yet is this knowledge indispensable to the right understanding of both the Old and the New Testament, and especially the prophetic parts of these books. Prophecy, though not the largest, is beyond question the most important part of Scripture, affording the only irrefragable proofs of God’s moral government of the world, and of Christ’s being the promised Messiah. These proofs depend upon no human testimony, but carry their evidence in themselves, not resting on man’s credibility. Deposited in the hands of those, whose blindness understands them not, and whose prejudice would gladly pervert their meaning, they have been handed down to us, who are blinded by similar prejudices, and in expounding these prophecies are only a shade more enlightened than the Jews.