144  EXTERNAL  CRITERIA  OF

other,  so  as  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  Messianic  cha-
racter of  the  whole  ;  an  important  addition  is  thereby  made
to  the  evidence  which  each  by  itself  supplies  of  its  refer-
ence to  the  Messiah.  Prophecy,  according  to  the  Apostle
Peter,  was  "  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place."*  The  lustre,
however,  which  it  shed,  was  not  always  the  same.  At
times  it  shone  with  a  clearer  and  less  troubled  radiance
than  at  others.  Now  it  enabled  the  seer  to  look  with  a
steady  gaze  on  that  point  to  which  all  the  lines  of  Provi-
dence were  converging ;  and  now  its  rays  seemed  to  strug-
gle through  a  perturbing  medium,  and  to  reach  that  point
with  only  a  dim  and  partial  illumination.  Hence  it  is  our
wisdom,  in  endeavouring  to  determine  to  what  the  different
parts  of  these  prophetic  writings  refer,  to  compare  one  part
with  another,  especially  the  earlier  portions  with  the  later,
the  more  figurative  with  the  more  literal,  the  shorter  v/ith
the  more  extended  and  copious.  We  shall  find  this  the
best  method,  not  only  of  getting  at  the  meaning  of  their
words,  but,  along  with  that,  of  deciding  upon  the  applica-
tion of  their  announcements.  It  hajDpens,  for  instance,
not  unfrequently,  that  prophecies  which  were  first  uttered
as  mere  general  predictions  of  blessing,  are  repeated  by
subsequent  prophets  with  such  additional  circumstances
as  fix  their  application  to  the  Messiah  as  the  medium
through  whom  these  blessings  are  to  flow.  Thus,  the
promise  to  Abraham,  that  in  his  seed  should  all  the  fami-
lies of  the  earth  be  blessed,  though  capable  of  being  shovm
to  refer  to  Christ,  upon  general  grounds,  is  decisively  de-
termined to  such  a  reference  when  we  find  it  quoted  by
David,  (Ps.  Ixxii.  17,)  and  directly  applied  to  the  Messiah.
