SECTION II.-On the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

That Jeremiah was the author of the Elegies or Lamentations which bear his name is evident, not only from a very ancient and almost uninterrupted tradition, but also from the argument and style of the book, which corresponds exactly with those of his prophecies. This book consists of five chapters, forming as many pathetic elegies; in the four first of which the prophet bewails the various calamities of his country; the fifth elegy is an epilogue to the four preceding. Dr. Blayney considers it as a memorial representing, in the name of the whole body of Jewish exiles, the numerous calamities under which they groaned; and humbly supplicating God to commiserate their wretchedness, and to restore them to his favour, and to their ancient prosperity.

SECTION III.-On the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk.

BEFORE CHRIST, 612-598.

Concerning this prophet we have no certain information; he exercised the prophetic office, most probably, in the reign of Jehoiakim, and consequently was contemporary with Jeremiah. His book consists of two parts. In

PART I. which is in the form of a dialogue between God and the prophet, the Babylonish captivity is announced; with a promise, however, of deliverance, and the ultimate destruction of the Babylonian empire.

PART II. contains the prayer or psalm of Habakkuk, in which he implores God to hasten the deliverance of his people. (ii.)

SECTION IV.-On the Book of the Prophet Daniel.

BEFORE CHRIST, 606-534.

Daniel, the fourth of the greater prophets, if not of royal birth, (as the Jews affirm,) was of noble descent, and was carried captive to Babylon at an early age, in the fourth

year of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year 606 before the Christian æra, and seven years before the deportation of Ezekiel. Having been instructed in the language and literature of the Chaldæans, he afterwards held a very distinguished office in the Babylonian empire. (Dan. i. 1-4.) He was contemporary with Ezekiel, who mentions his extraordinary piety and wisdom, (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20,) and the latter, even at that time, seems to have become proverbial. (Ezek. xxviii. 3.) Daniel lived in great credit with the Babylonian monarchs; and his uncommon merit procured him the same regard from Darius and Cyrus, the two first sovereigns of Persia. He lived throughout the captivity, but it does not appear that he returned to his own country when Cyrus permitted the Jews to revisit their native land. The time of his death is not certainly known. Although the name of Daniel is not prefixed to his book, the many passages in which he speaks in the first person sufficiently prove that he was the author. His writings may be divided into two parts; viz.:

PART I. comprises the historical portion of this book: it contains a narrative of the circumstances that led to Daniel's elevation. (ch. i.-vi.)

PART. II. comprises various prophecies and visions of things future, until the advent and death of the Messiah, and the ultimate conversion of the Jews and Gentiles to the faith of the Gospel. (ch. vii.-xii.)

This is an amazing series of prophecy, extending through many successive ages from the first establishment of the Persian empire, upwards of 530 years before Christ, to the general resurrection! "What a proof does it afford of a Divine Providence, and of a Divine Revelation! for who could thus declare the things that shall be, with their times and seasons, but He only who hath them in his power: whose dominion is over all, and whose kingdom endureth from generation to generation !"

SECTION V.-On the Book of the Prophet Obadiah.

BEFORE CHRIST, 588-583.

The time when this prophet flourished is uncertain : Archbishop Newcome places it, with great probability,

between the taking of Jerusalem (which happened in the year 587 before Christ) and the destruction of Idumæa, by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place a very few years after. Consequently he was partly contemporary with Jeremiah, one of whose predictions includes the greater part of Obadiah's book. (Compare Obad. 1-9, with Jer. xlix. 14, 15, 16. 7. 9, 10.) His writings, which consist of only one chapter, unfold a very interesting scene of prophecy, in two parts; viz.:

PART I. is minatory, and denounces the destruction of Edom for their pride and carnal security, (1-9,) and for their cruel insults and enmity to the Jews, after the capture of their city. (10-16.)

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PART II. is consolatory, and foretells the restoration of the Jews, (17,) their victory over their enemies, and their flourishing state in consequence. (18—21.)

SECTION VI.-On the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.

BEFORE CHRIST, 595-536.

Ezekiel, wnose name imports the strength of God, was the son of Buzi, of the sacerdotal race, and one of the сарtives carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon with Jehoiachin king of Judah: it does not appear that he had prophesied before he came into Mesopotamia. The principal scene of his predictions was some place on the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates about two hundred miles to the north of Babylon, where the prophet resided; though he was, occasionally, conveyed in vision to Jerusalem. He commenced his prophetic ministry in the thirtieth year of his age, according to general accounts; or rather, as Calmet thinks, in the thirtieth year after the covenant was renewed with God, in the reign of Josiah, which answers to the fifth year of Ezekiel's and Jehoiachin's captivity, (Ezek. i. 1, xl. 1,) the æra whence he dates his predictions; and he continued to prophesy about twenty or twenty-one years. The events of his life, after his call to the prophetic office, are interwoven with the detail which he has himself given of his predictions: but the manner of its termination is no where ascertained. His prophecies have always been acknowledged to be canonical, nor was it ever

disputed that he was their author: they form, in our Bibles, forty-eight chapters, and, as he is extremely punctual in dating them, we have little or no difficulty in arranging them in chronological order. They may be divided into four parts, viz. :

PART I. Ezekiel's call to the Prophetic office, (ch. i. 1, to the first part of verse 28,) his commission, instructions, and encouragements for executing it. (i. 28, latter clause, ii., iii. 1—21.)

PART II. Denunciations against the Jewish People. (ch. iii. 22-27, iv.—xxiv.)

PART III. comprises Ezekiel's Prophecies against various neighbouring nations, enemies to the Jews. (ch. XXV. xxxii.)

PART IV. contains a series of exhortations and consolatory promises to the Jews, of future deliverance under Cyrus, but principally of their final restoration and conversion under the kingdom of Messiah. (ch. xxxiii.— xlvi.)

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE PROPHETS WHO FLOURISHED AFTER THE RETURN OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON.

SECTION I.-On the Book of the Prophet Haggai.

BEFORE CHRIST, 520-518.

NOTHING is certainly known concerning the tribe or birth-place of Haggai, the tenth in order of the minor prophets, but the first of the three who were commissioned to make known the divine will to the Jews after their return from captivity. The Jews having for fourteen years discontinued the rebuilding of the temple, this prophet was commissioned to encourage them in their work, in consequence of the edict issued by Cyrus in their favour. Accordingly the work was resumed, and completed in a few years. His prophecy comprises three distinct prophecies or discourses; viz.:

DISCOURSE I. contains a severe reproof of the people, especially of their governor and high-priest, for their delay in rebuilding the temple, which neglect was the cause of the unfruitful seasons, and other marks of the

divine displeasure, with which they had been visited. (i. 1-11.) The obedience of the governors and people to the prophet's message is then related. (12-15.)

DISCOURSE II. The prophet comforts the aged men, who, when young, had beheld the splendour of the first temple, and now wept for the diminished magnificence of the second temple, by foretelling that its glory should be greater than that of the first. (ii. 1-2.) This prediction was accomplished by Jesus Christ honouring it with his presence and preaching. Haggai then predicts a fruitful harvest, as a reward for carrying on the building. (10-19.)

DISCOURSE III. The prophet foretells the setting up of Messiah's kingdom under the name of Zerubbabel. (ii. 20-23.)

SECTION II-On the Book of the Prophet Zechariah.

BEFORE CHRIST, 520-518.

Although the names of Zechariah's father and grandfather are specified, (Zech. i. 1,) it is not known from what tribe or family this prophet was descended, nor where he was born; but that he was one of the captives who returned to Jerusalem in consequence of the decree of Cyrus, is unquestionable. As he opened his prophetic commission in the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, that is, about the year 520 before the Christian æra, it is evident that he was contemporary with Haggai, and his authority was equally effectual in promoting the building of the temple.

The prophecy of Zechariah consists of two parts; viz.: PART I. concerns the events which were then taking place, viz. the restoration of the temple, interspersing predictions relative to the advent of the Messiah. (ch. i.—vi.) These predictions were delivered in the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

PART II. comprises prophecies relative to more remote events, particularly the coming of Jesus Christ, and the war of the Romans against the Jews. (vii.-xiv.) These prophecies were announced in the fourth year of Darius's reign.

SECTION III.-On the Book of the Prophet Malachi.

BEFORE CHRIST, 436-397.

Malachi, the last of the minor prophets, delivered his predictions while Nehemiah was governor of Judæa,