classes of prophecies that have been considered, the
principle of figurative interpretation can be maintained upon solid
grounds. But it would be wrong to press it as of universal and exclusive
application. Where no reasons to the contrary exist, the literal
interpretation, as the most natural and obvious, deserves the
preference. To draw the limits between the literal and the figurative in
prophecy is difficult, and in some cases impossible. In this respect it
has pleased the wisdom of God that a vail should rest on some
unfulfilled predictions which his own hand alone has power to remove.
There are two questions, especially, respecting which interpreters have
long been divided, and will probably continue to be divided, till God
himself shall decide them. The first is that of the _literal
restoration_ of the Jews to the promised land; the second, that of _our
Lord's personal reign on earth_ during the promised age of millennial
glory. To enter upon the full discussion of either would require a
volume. We must dismiss both with some brief hints.

15. The original promise to Abraham included the grant of the land of
Canaan to him and his seed "for an everlasting possession." Gen. 12:7;
13:15; 15:18; 17:8; 26:3; 28:13. It is expressed in the plainest terms,
the boundaries of the promised territory are defined, and the nations
inhabiting it enumerated (Gen. 15:18-21); in a word, every thing
indicates the literal as the true interpretation. The remarkable words
of the Saviour: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall
be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"
(Luke 21:24), have had a literal fulfilment in the awful judgments which
they foretell; and it seems reasonable to believe that the promise
implied in the last clause, "_until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled_" shall have a literal fulfilment also in their repossession
of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The wonderful preservation of the Jewish
nation through so many centuries of dispersion points in the same
direction. All these things, taken in connection with the numerous and
very explicit prophecies of their captivity and dispersion for their
sins, and their subsequent restoration upon repentance (Lev. chap. 26;
Deut. chaps, 28-30: 1 Kings 8:46-50; Isa. chaps. 6, 11, 66; Jer. chaps.
30, 31; Ezek. chaps. 36-39; Hosea 1:10, 11; Joel. chap. 3; Amos chap. 9;