nent counsellor of some of the kings. The first part of his book consists chiefly of declarations of sins and threatenings of judgements; then follows predictions of judgments on various nations; some plain history and the most precious promises to the Church-promises of the redemption and glorious kingdom of the Messiah, of the double restoration of the Jews and the blessed millenium. His style is a perfect model of the sublime. He stands to this day, unrivalled in eloquence.

Micah was cotemporary with Isaiah, and has much of his style and spirit. He exclaims against the wickedness of the ten tribes; fortells the Assyrian invasion and the destruction of Jerusalem; the return of the Jews from captivity; the birth of Christ at Bethlehem Ephratah, and the peace and prosperity of the Christian Church.

Nahum appears to have prophesied just as Sennacherib was returning from Egypt, with the intention of destroying Jerusa lem; and, with great fire and spirit, he utters an illustrious prophecy against Nineveh, which was fulfilled in little more than a century after its delivery.

Zephaniah was of royal extract and lived in the time of king Josiah. In terms wonderfully descriptive, he denounces vengeance against the wicked Jews; the Philistines; the Moabites; Ammonites; Ethiopians and Assyrians; and promises a restoration of the captive people of God.

Joel takes no notice of the ten tribes, but confines himself to Judah, and may therefore be supposed to have lived after the first captivity. He predicts a fearful famine and directs to repentance, fasting and prayer as the means of deliverance. His most remarkable prophesy is of the general out-pouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Jeremiah was devoted to the prophetic office before his birth. When first commissioned, he prayed to be excused because of his youth. But God bade him go forward and fear nothing, for he would be with him and make him as a brazen wall against his enemies. He began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and prophesied forty years. For his boldness in reprov. ing vice and predicting judgments, he suffered the most cruel persecutions, and is said, by Jerom, to have been stoned to death. His prophecies are of a very distinguished and illustrious character. They relate chiefly to the captivity, the precise time of its duration, and the downfal of the neighbouring nations. Some of them extend through remote ages. His style is less lofty than that of Isaiah, but breathes a tenderness of spirit which deeply interests the affections of the reader.

CHAP. 5.

PROPHETS.

65

Besides his prophecies, he wrote the book of Lamentations, in which he bewails the desolations of Jerusalem, with wonderful tenderness. 66 'Every letter seems written with a tear, every word is the sound of a breaking heart." But whether it is a prophecy of future events or a description of scenes then present, is not easily determined.

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About the same period, Obadiah predicted the destruction of the enemies of Judah, and the restoration of the Jews. His work is short, but has much beauty.

Habakkuk was the last who began to prophesy before the captivity. His style is poetical and beautiful. His description of God's descent from Teman, far surpasses in sublimity any description ever given of any heathen god. He predicts the downfal of the enemies of the Church, and pleads with God for her deliverance.

These and other prophets who succeeded them, were instructed in future events by dreams and visions, by audible words and immediate inspiration. The holiness of their doctrines, their miracles, and the accomplishment of their predictions, afforded indisputable proof that they were taught of God.

They published their predictions, by uttering them loud in public places; by posting them on the gates of the temple, where they might be read; and sometimes, by highly expressive actions. Isaiah walked naked* and bare-foot; Jeremiah broke the potter's vessel; and Ezekiel publicly removed his household goods from the city, to express correspondent calamities which were about to descend upon the enemies of Jehovah. Sometimes also, they taught by revealing transactions seen in visions, which could not have well been submitted to in reality; thus conveying instruction with great force.

Many of their predictions had a double meaning. They related first to some event which would shortly occur, but chiefly to one of which that was only the type, and which was far distant. Different predictions therefore, such as those of the first and second dispersion, of the first and second restoration, of the first and second coming of Christ, were mingled in one; a vast period was often embraced in one prophesy, and what a cursory reader would suppose to belong to a particular people in

* He laid aside his royal and priestly vestments,, to show that the government and priesthood would be overthrown. This gives no warrant to those who appear in a state of perfect nudity, as a sign.

a particular age, often embraced great portions of the human family, through many successive generations.

Their style was highly figurative, bold and magnificent. They drew their imagery from the luminaries of heaven, from the ocean, the mountain, the storm, from their native scenery, from their temple worship and the idolatrous rites of the heathen; and if sometimes it partook of an indelicate cast, it was because of the taste of the age, or because they would more indignantly express the divine abhorrence of the sins of the people.

Their predictions were necessarily obscure, that they might not control human freedom, and appear to produce their own accomplishment. But so numerous and express were they respecting the advent of Christ, as to occasion about the time of his birth, both among Jews and Gentiles, a very general expectation of the appearance of some illustrious personage.

"The testimony of Jesus, is the spirit of prophesy; and he who can contemplate that spirit operating through four thousand years and be an infidel, would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

TABLE of the Prophets who propesied before the Captivity.

CHAP. 6.

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY.

67

CHAPTER VI.

Babylonish captivity. Ezekiel. Triumphs of faith. Prophecies of Daniel. Providence of God relating to Cyrus. Restoration of the Jews. Temple rebuilt. Preservation of the Church through Esther. Favourable decrees of Artaxerxes to Ezra and Nehemiah. Their labours and success at Jerusalem. The last of the Prophets. Closing of the sacred Zoroaster.

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In the year 588 B. C. the destruction of Jerusalem, of the Temple and the nation was rendered complete. The remnant of this once happy and flourishing people was carried captive to Babylon and scattered throughout the east. Their sufferings were without a parallel. Every curse and wo which had been denounced upon them by God through his prophets, if they forsook him, were strictly and literally fulfilled. But amid the treachery of friends and persecution of enemies, the Church lived."The bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed." God had a seed to serve him; men of prayer; who sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept when they remembered Zionwho, in recollection of their beloved homes, their Temple worship and the God of their Fathers, said, "If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."

Among the children of the captivity was the prophet Ezekiel. He was a descendant of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi; and was carried captivity with Jehoiachin and placed on the banks of the river Chebar. He began to prophesy six years before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and continued to prophesy sixteen years after. In the fifth year of his captivity and thirtieth of his age the Lord appeared to him on a throne, supported by cherubims and wheels, signifying angels and changing providences; and directed him to go and declare his mind and will to the captive Jews. They had made themselves miserable from supposing that the remnant at Jerusalem were in happy circumstances. He corrected their error, by showing them the melancholy state of Jerusalem, and the still greater calamities which awaited it because of the total apostacy of the Jews. He occasionally adverted to the certain destruction of their enemies; predicted the advent of the Messiah and the final restoration of the Jews. His style is bold and tragical. Many of his prophecies are obscure. The nine last chapters, furnish a de

scription of a new temple and city, seen in vision, under which seems to be shadowed the glorious Church universal.

But the most eminent saint and the most exalted personage in the Church at this time, was the prophet Daniel. He was descended from the kings of Judah and was carried captive in the fourth year of Jehoiachin. He flourished during the reigns of several monarchs and died in old age, after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus. Because of his birth, beauty and wisdom, he was selected, among others, to receive a princely education and stand in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar. By his extraordinary qualities, he conciliated the favour of monarchs and was elevated to great rank and power; but, sanctified by the Spirit, he maintained a close walk with God, professed his religion and continued steadfast in prayer, in defiance of the greatest dangers. Often were he and his companions tempted by the greatest possible allurements-by life itself, to renounce their religion and become idolaters; but nothing could move them. They feared God rather than man. And their heroism and fortitude spread the knowledge of God among all nations.

History presents no greater exhibition of moral sublimity, no greater triumphs of faith than are to be witnessed in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Throughout the east, idolatry was at its height and God was unknown. Vast kingdoms were summoned by Nebuchadnezzar, the haughtiest of monarchs, to the plains of Dura, to bow down before an immense idol, which he had set up. These companions of Daniel* were accused and brought before the king as disobedient to his command. A tremendous fiery furnace was prepared for the disobedient, and they were threatened with being instantly cast into it. Had these pious youth yielded, Satan's triumph would have been complete. But the seed of the woman was to bruise the head of the serpent, and they stood firm. The mighty mass of idolaters guashed on them with their teeth. But they stood firm. They were cast into the furnace. But God was with them. One like to the Son of man was seen walking with them in the fire, and the fire was not permitted to singe their garments, or the hair of their head. The king astonished, called them forth and cast their accusers into the furnace to their immediate and aw. ful destruction. And behold the result! "I make a decree," said this mightiest of human monarchs, "That every people, nation and language which speak any thing amiss against the

*Where Daniel was at this time, is uncertain; probably he was absent or so much in favour at court that the idolaters durst not touch him.