The Jews still remain under this illusion, continuing still to look for a temporal prince, and the literal fulfilment of prophecy. Thousands also of Christians, who look for the second coming of Christ, expect his personal advent; that is, that he will come in person to reign with the saints on earth for a thousand years. And the title of saints, whether assumed by, or bestowed upon the millenarians, seems to be fondly cherished by them, in anticipation of the share they expect in the glories of that reign now approaching, or, as they suppose, just at hand. That there be any among these, who would, like the first disciples, desert their Lord, if robbed of this pleasing expectation, it were perhaps invidious to suppose. Whether, like the Jews, they are led into this hope of an earthly kingdom, by their misconception of the prophecies that relate to this period, it were premature as yet to enquire. But certain it is, that they are for the most part zealous advocates for the literal sense of prophecy; and equally adverse with the Jews, to what may be termed the spiritual exposition. The term spiritual has, however, been so much misunderstood, in regard to the interpretation of prophecy, that it may be well to explain here what is intended by it. No more is meant by this term, than that the prophecies relating to the Messiah’s kingdom, which the Christian must allow to be of a spiritual nature, foretel events which regard the moral and religious, and not the political state of the world. In a word, that they foreshow the progress, and final establishment of true christianity on earth; this being the Messiah’s kingdom, or his spiritual reign. In this subject, or the progress of our religion, we have a history abounding in events more diversified in their nature, and more interesting in their consequences, because more influential on the happiness of mankind, than any which political history can furnish. Their chronology and geography are in some points peculiar; but, rightly understood, even these admit of being marked with unerring precision, and present some of the most striking proofs of divine foreknowledge. We have intimated that prophetic language abounds in metaphor; but this remains to be proved, as well as stated; and the nature of these metaphors requires to be pointed out and explained. This can only be done by citations from the prophecies themselves, which shall, however, be made with as much brevity as the subject will admit of. The passages shall all be taken from prophecies relating to the Messiah’s kingdom; and while their purport is made manifest, it shall at the same time be shewn that they are uniformly employed in the same sense, when the Messiah’s kingdom is the subject treated of, throughout the New as well as the Old Testament. We proceed to show the metaphorical nature of prophetic language.