Secondly, it should be remembered, that
it is part of the character of the Scripture-
prophecies not to be so framed as to be
fiilly understood before the event. This
is, I conceive, what the Apostle Peter
means, when he says that prophecy is
not (in the words of our translation) " of
private interpretation." I am not sure
what sense our translators meant to con-
vey by those words ; but the signification
of the original words used by Peter, evi-
dently is, that " Prophecy is not to be its
aum interpreter f^ that is, is not to have
its full sense made out (like that of any
other kind of composition) by the study
of the very words of each prophecy itself,
but it is to be interpreted by the event
that fulfils it. When we read in Scrip-
ture or elsewhere, a history of any past
transaction, or a statement of any doc-
trine, we may expect, generally speaking,
that it shall be its own interpreter ; — that



176 RESTORATION OF THE JEWS, [L. VH.
by attentively studying what the writer
has said, we shall arrive at a full know-
ledge of his meaning. But it is not so
with the greater part of the Scripture-
prophecies. They are mostly so drawn
up, that the events which fiilfil them
should be also needed to explain their
meaning ; and more than this ; that even
when fulfilled, it should be possible for
the uncandid, the prejudiced, and the
perverse, to miss the explanation, and to
be blind to the fulfilment; while those
who are humble, patient, and docile, are
enabled to understand it.
