P.S. I fully agree with Mr. Irving as to the literal fulfilment of all the prophecies which respect the restoration of the Jews. ('Deuteron.' xxv. 1-8.) It may be long before Edward Irving sees what I seem at least to see so clearly,--and yet, I doubt not, the time will come when he too will see with the same evidentness,--how much grander a front his system would have presented to judicious beholders; on how much more defensible a position he would have placed it,--and the remark applies equally to Ben Ezra (that is, Emanuel Lacunza)--had he trusted the proof to Scriptures of undisputed catholicity, to the spirit of the whole Bible, to the consonance of the doctrine with the reason, its fitness to the needs and capacities of mankind, and its harmony with the general plan of the divine dealings with the world,--and had left the Apocalypse in the back ground. But alas! instead of this he has given it such prominence, such prosiliency of relief, that he has made the main strength of his hope appear to rest on a vision, so obscure that his own author and faith's-mate claims a meaning for its contents only on the supposition that the meaning is yet to come! Preliminary Discourse, p. lxxx. Now of these three, the office of Christ, as our prophet, is the means used by the Holy Spirit for working the redemption of the understanding of men; that faculty by which we acquire the knowledge on which proceed both our inward principles of conduct and our outward acts of power. I cannot forbear expressing my regret that Mr. Irving has not adhered to the clear and distinct exposition of the understanding, 'genere et gradu', given in the Aids to Reflection. [3]