| 61 | THE SYSTEM |
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OF INTERPRETATION. |
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CHAPTER III.
THE SYSTEM OF INTERPRETATION.
Two very opposite systems of Scriptural interpretation have been
brought into view; the one denominated the LITERAL or GRAMMATICAL, and
the other the ALLEGORICAL OR SPIRITUAL. The general nature of each has
been denned, and to some extent illustrated; the literal or
grammatical having been shown to be the method commonly adopted by men
in their attempts to understand each other's language, according to
which, the words, grammatically understood, are taken as the proper
guide to the meaning of the writer or the nature of the thing
expressed;—the allegorical or spiritual being an attempt to explain the
meaning of the words according to some assumed or preconceived notions
of the nature of the thing.
We have affirmed the literal system to be the true and proper one for
the interpretation of the prophetical Scriptures; because it is the
most natural, consistent, and satisfactory mode of interpretation,
commending itself to the common sense of mankind; because it is more
definite and certain, and far less liable to the charge of vagueness
and to the vagaries of men's imaginations, than the spiritual or
allegorical; and because it is sanctioned by the example of the
patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles, in their study and
exposition of the prophecies. We add another reason.
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IV. THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OF PROPHECY CONTAINED IN THE SCRIPTURES, AS FAR
AS IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AND EXPOUNDED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD,
RECOGNIZES AND ESTABLISHES THE LITERAL OR GRAMMATICAL AS ITS
APPROPRIATE METHOD OF INTERPRETATION.
In order to understand the force of this argument, it will be
necessary to notice more particularly than we have done, the nature
and character of prophecy. On this point there has been much
confusion, which has not been much relieved by treatises designed
expressly to give us philosophical explanations of the manner in
which the minds of the prophets were affected. It has been taken for
granted, that there is something essentially difficult to be
understood in prophecy; not only from the necessary obscurity in
every attempt to describe future events, but especially from the mode
in which the minds of the prophets were acted on and affected by the
Spirit of God, who made to the prophets his revelations. Peter says,
that prophecy is not the result of human excogitation. "It came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost."1
As to the precise amount of meaning in this word "moved," there has
been much disagreement among those who have written on the nature of
prophecy. This diversity of sentiment has ranged from those satisfied
with a general knowledge of the fact that God acted on them in some
miraculous way, and who attempted not even to form an idea as to the
mode, believing: that Peter intended to intimate no notion whatever
on this subject—to those, who, supposing that he did, have allowed
themselves to class the phrenzy of the
1 2 Pet. 1. 21.
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