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^propriety, however, is ufed for that Right in Lam and Tenements which common Perfons have ; importing as much as Utile Dominium, tho' not tDiretlum. , There are three Manners of Right or Property , viz. (property abfolute, Property qualified, and Property pof- feflory. See Proprietor and Fee.
Incumbents have not the Propriety of Benefices^ they have only the Enjoyment thereof. See Benefice.
The Monks have a long time difputed whether they had the Propriety of the Bread they eat, or only theUfe.
One may give the Propriety of an Eftate, yet referve theUfufruit ; by the Death of the Ufufructuary theUfufruit is confolidated to the Propriety. See Consolidation.
PROPHECY, a Prediction, made by Divine Jnfpiration. See Prophet andlNspiRATioN.
A late Author obferves, that the Chriftians have this iu common with the Pagans, that they equally build their Religions on Prophecy and ^Divination. See Divination and Augury.
He adds, That Divination was an Art learnt by the Ro- fflanS in Schools, or under Difcipline 5 as the jf%OT5 did c Pro- pbcfywg in the Schools and Colleges of the Prophets.
In thefe Schools, as the learned 2)odwell obferves, the Candidates for Prophecy were taught the Rules of Divina- tion, ptaclifed by the Heathens ; who were in poffeflion of
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Commentaries ; and has accordingly publi/hec! to tho World, the Rules whereby the Apoftles quoted the Old Teflament.
But the truth is, thefe Rules are too precarious flrain'd, and un-natural, to gain much Credit. See Quotation.
Nlr.Whifion condemns all allegorical Explanation of the tPntyheciesof the Old Teflament cited in the New, as weak, enthufiaflic, &c. And adds, that if a double Senfe of the Prophecies be allow'd, and there be no other Method of ftiewing their Completion, than by applying them fecon- darily and typically to our Lord, after having been in their firft and primary Intention long ago fulfill'd in the Times of the Old Teftament ; we lofe all the real Advantages of the antient Prophecies, as to the Proofs of Chriftianity.
He therefore fets up a new Scheme in oppofition thereto! He owns, that taking the prefent Text of the Old Tefla- ment for Genuine, it is impoffible to expound the Apoftles Citations of the Prophecies of the Old Teftament, on any other than the allegorical Foundation 7 and, therefore, to folve the Difficulty, is forced to have recourfe to a Suppo- fition contrary to the Senfe of all Chriftian Writers before him ; viz. that the Text of the Old Teftament has been greatly corrupted fince the Apoftolical Age by the few$, See Bible.
His Hypothecs is, that the Apoftles made their Quota-
the Art long before 'em. J Tis added, that the Gift of tions out of the Old Teflament rightly and truly from the
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'Prophecy was not an occasional thing, but a conflant and Handing Matter of Fac~t j and fome think they have dif- cover'd an Eftablifhment of an Order of Prophets in the Old Teflament, in analogy to the Heathen Diviners.
This is certain, from many Paflages of Scripture, thatthere were great Numbers of Prophets among 'em, who not only exercifed their Talent in Matters of Government and Re- ligion, but even in the difcovery of loft Goods, and in tel- ling of Fortunes. See Augury, Oracle, &6.
One of the greatefl Difficulties in Chriflianity, turns upon the Completion of the Scripture 'Prophecies : In the Pro- phets of the Old Teftament are frequent Predictions of the Meffiah h which, the Writers of the New, frequently urge to the Jews and Heathens as fulfill'd in jefus Chrijl ■, and on this Principle evince the Truth of his Million : But thefe Truths thus urged from the Old, in the New Tefla- ment $ are fometimes not to be now found in the Old 5 and at other times, not urged in the New in the literal and ob- vious Scnfc which they feem to bear in the Old 5 whence moft of the Chriflian Commentators, Divines, and Critics, Antient and Modern, judge 'em to be apply 'd in a fecon- dary, typical, allegorical, or myflical Senfe.
Thus, e.gr. St. Matthew., after an Account of the Con- ception of the Virgin, and the Birth of jfefus, fays,
- ' All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was
" fpoken by the Prophet, faying, Behold a Virgin fhall be " with Child, and fhall bring forth a Son, and they /hall " call his Name Emanuel." But the Words, as they Hand in Tfaiah, whence they are fuppofed to be taken, do, in their obvious and literal Senfe, relate to a young Woman who was to bring forth a Child in the Days of Mhaz j as appears from the Context, and as is own'd by Grotins, Huetius, Cajialio, GurcelUnts, EpifcopiuS, Hammond, Simon, le Clerc, Lamy, &c.
This Prophecy, then, not being fulfill'd in yefiis, in the primary, literal, or obvious Senfe of the \Votds, is fup>
Septuagint Verfion, which in their Time was in vulgar Ufe, and exactly agreed with the Hebrew Original 5 and that as they made exacl Quotations, fo they argued juftly and logically from the obvious and literal Senfe of the faid Quotations, as they then flood in the Old Teflament : But, that fince their Times, both the Hebrew and Septua- gint Copies of the Old Teflament have been fo greatly cor- rupted, and fo many apparent Diforders and Diflocations introduced therein, as to occafion many remarkable Diffe- rences and Inconfiflencics between the Old and New Tefla- ment in refpefl: to the Words and Senfe of thofe Quota- tions. See Septuagint, &c.
As to the Manner wherein thefe Corruptions were intro- duced, he fays, t\\tjfews in the fecond Century greatly cor- rupted and alter'd both the Hebrew and Septuagint, efpe- cially in the Prophecies cited by the Apoflles, to make their Reafoning appear inconclufive ; that in the third Century, they put mtoOrigen's hand one of thefe corrupted Copies of the Septuagint, which Origen miltaking for genuine, inferted in his Hexapla 5 and thus brought into the Church a corrupted Copy of the Septuagint : And that in the end of the fourth 1 Century, the ye-WS put into the hands of the Chriltians, who, till then, had been almoft univerfally ignorant of the Hebrew, a corrupted Copy of the Hebrew Old-'Tejlament.
The Difagreement, then, between the Old and New Teflament in refpeel to the faid Quotations, he contends, has no place between the genuine Text of the Old Tefla- ment (now no where exifling) bur only between the pre- fent corrupted Text of the Old and New Teflament : And, therefore, to jullify the Reafonings of the Apoftles, he propofes to reflore the Text of the Old Teftament, as it flood before the Days of Origen, and as it flood in the Days of the Apoflles. From which Text thus reftored, he doubts not, it will appear, that the Apoflles cited exactly, and argued juftly and logically from the Old Teftament.
But this Scheme of accompli filing Prophecies, labours un-
pofed, like the other FrOpbecieS cited by the Apoftles, to der Difficulties atleaftas great as the Allegorical Scheme.
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be fulfill'd in a fecondary, typical, or allegorical Senfe ; i. e. this Prophecy, which was firft literally fulfill'd by the Uirth of the Prophet's Son in the Time of Jhaz, was again fulfill'd by the Birth of Jcftts; as being an Event of the fame kind, and intended to be fignified either by the Pro- phet, or by God who directed the Prophet's Speech.
Grothts obferves this to be the Cafe in moft, if not all the Prophecies and Citations quoted from the Old in the lYew '1 eftament ; and Dad-well, with Sir John Mar/bam, refer even the famous 'Prophecy in Daniel about the Se- venty Weeks ro the Times of Antiocbus Epiphanes ; /hew- ing, that the Exprtflions token thence by Chtirt, and urged by him as predicting the Dettruction of Jerufalem by the Romans, have only in a fecondary Senfe, a refpect to that Pefl ruction.
And even that famous Frcphccy in the Fentatevch, " A " Ptophet will the Lord God raife up unto thee like " unto me, to him fhall ye hearken"; which St. Zllke refers to as fpoken of Jejus Chrifi, is, by Simon, Grotim, Stitlingfleet, &c. underftood to fignify, in its immediate Senfe, aPromifeofa Succeffion of Prophets.
'Tis allow'd then, the Apoftles apply 'd the Frofbecies 'ney quote from the Old Teftament, in a typical Senfe ; bur, unhappily, the Rules whereby they quoted, are loft. Dr. Stanhope laments the lofs of the Je-ivijh Traditions or Rules for interpreting Scriptute receiv'd among the Rab- bins, and follow'd by the Apoftles. But this Lofs, Snren- bitfins, Hebrew Profeffor at Amfterdam, thinks he has re- trieved from the Jewjb Talmud, and the antient Jeivi{h
Its Foundation is incredible, and its Superftructure, from firft to laft, precarious: In effect, 'tis inconceivable the- Old Teftament fhou'.d be fo corrupted 5 and it iseven made ap- pear, that the Hehrcw and Septuagint difagreed in the Times of the Apoftles : Add to this, that the Means whereby he ptopofes to reftore the true Text, will never anfwer that end 5 nor has he, himfelf, from all the Means he is yet poflefs'd of, been able to reftore one prophetical Citation, fo as to make that feem literally, which before only feem'd alle- gorically, apply'd. See Pentateuch, &c.
PROPHET, a Perfon infpired by God with the Know- ledge of future Events; and commimon'd to declare his Laws, his Will, (Sc. to the Wotld. See Prophecy and Divination.
Among the Canonical Books are thofe of fixteen Fro- pbets ; four of which are denominated the greater Prophets, viz. Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekid, andZJaniet ; fo call'd from the length or extent of their Writings, which exceed thofe of the others, viz,. Hofea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonas, Micha, Nalmm, Habbakuc, Haggai, Zachariah, and Ma- lachi , who are call'd the lejjer Prophets, from the fhort- nefs of their Writings.
The Jews only reckon three greater 'Prophets; Daniel they exclude, as no more to be rank'd among tkePropbets than David: Not but that both the one and the other foretold many important things ; but becaufe their manner of Life differ'd from that of the other Prophets, David be- ing a King, and Daniel a Peer.
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