And now I see
most clearly that I was right. Miracles had a use, and I may show what
it was by and by; but it was not the use to which they have been so
often and so vainly applied.
16. The writers on prophecy were as unsatisfactory as those on miracles.
They often handled the prophecies unfairly if not deceitfully. They
treated as absolute prophecies, prophecies which were expressly
conditional. And they lost sight of the fact, so plainly stated in
Jeremiah xviii, that all prophetic promises and threatenings are
conditional. Then they took one bit of a prophecy and left another: kept
out of sight predictions which had not been fulfilled, and dwelt
exclusively on phrases which had been fulfilled.
They dealt deceitfully with history as well as prophecy. They made or
modified facts. They gave fanciful interpretations to prophecies. And
they tried to make prophecy prove what it could not prove, however
unquestionable and miraculous the fulfilment might be. The manner in
which Nelson and Keith dealt with prophecy was often childish, and even
dishonest. A careful examination of their works left a most painful
impression on my mind.
What Albert Barnes says about much of the reasoning of preachers and
divines is applicable to this class of writers more than to some others.
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