and human birth; his miracles, character, and virtues; his rejection and suffering for sin; his death and burial; his resurrection, his ascension, and the perfection of his spiritual kingdom.

ISAIAH'S PROPHECIES RESPECTING THE

MESSIAH.

His forerunner, xl. 3. His family and descent from David, xi. 10. His birth of a virgin, vii. 14.

His divine nature and human birth, vi.; vii. 14; ix. 6; xxxv. 4; xl. 5, 9; xliii. 6, 8; lxi. 1; lxii. 11; lxiii. 1-4.

His inspiration, xlii. 1; xlix. 1; 1. 4, 5; li. 16.
His preaching and teaching, xi. 4; lxi. 1—3.
His miracles, xxxv. 5, 6.

His peculiar character and virtues, xi. 2-4; xl. 11; xliii. 1—3.

His rejection, vi. 9-12; viii. 14, 15; xlix. 7; liii. 3; lxv. 15.

His sufferings for sin, 1. 6; lii. 14; liii. 4—11. His sufferings were vicarious, liii. 3-6, 8, 12. Matt. viii. 17.

His death and burial, liii. 8, 9.

His victory over death, xxv. 8; liii. 10, 12. His final glory, xlix. 7, 22, 23; lii. 13—15; liii. 10-12.

His reception by the Gentiles, xlix. 6, 7.

The glory of his kingdom, ii. 2—4; ix. 2, 7; xi. 4-10; xvi. 5; xxix. 18-24; xxxii. 1; xl.

4, 5; xlii. 4; xlvi. 13; xlix. 9—13; li. 3—6; lii. 6-10; lv. 1—3; lix. 16—21; lx.; lxi. 1—5; lxv. 25, &c.

[It would encroach too much upon the present manual to give an amplified epitome, but the fol lowing very brief one will suffice to shew the character of Isaiah's prophecies respecting the Messiah; and the ingenious scholar can expand the sketch by further quotations from the references given above.]

A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.)—He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. (liii. 2.)

The spirit of the Lord shall be upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (xi. 2-5.)-He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, (xl. 11.)-The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. (xxxv. 5, 6. Matt. xi 5.)-He shall be for a sanctuary; for a stone of stumbling also, and rock of offence at which many shall stumble and fall. (viii. 14, 15.)

It pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to grief. (liii. 10.)-He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief despised, and we esteemed him not.

We hid, as it were, our faces from him. (liii. 3. John xii. 38.)-He was oppressed, he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth. (liii. 7. 1 Peter ii. 23.) He was taken from prison and from judgment. (8.)-He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off his hair. He hid not his face from shame and spitting. (1. 6.)-He was numbered with transgressors. (liii. 12. Mark xv. 28.)-Brought as a lamb to the slaughter, . . . cut off out of the land of the living, made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. (liii. 7, 8, 9. Acts viii. 32, 33.)

When Thou (the Lord) shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days. He shall divide the spoil with the strong. (liii. 10, 12.)-He shall swallow up death with victory. (xxv. 9.)

The Gentiles shall come to the light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. (lx. 1-22.)-All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of my God (lii. 10), and of the increase of his government there shall be no end. (ix. 7.)

Section II.

MICAH.

B.C. 754 to 699.

Who Micah

was.

Micah, one of the twelve minor

prophets, was a native of Judæa, and cotemporary with Isaiah.

When Micah prophesied.

He continued to prophesy for 55 years, from the accession of Jotham almost to the death of Hezekiah.

How he was He suffered the utmost con

received.

prophesied.

tempt and affliction, but it is not known by what death he died. (vii. 1-10.) Of what he He foretold: (1) the captivity of the ten tribes, followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and the holy temple; (i. to iii.)

(2.) The return from captivity, typical of the advent of the Messiah; (iv. v.)

(3.) And the final ingathering of the Jews, typical of the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of Jesus Christ; (vi. vii.)

Style of his prophecies.

His style resembles that of Isaiah, and many of his expressions are identical. (See Is. ii. 3, 4; and Micah iv. 2, 3.)

Micah predicts the exact birth-place of our divine Redeemer. (v. 1—4.)

Section III.

NAHUM.

B.C. 720 to 698.

Who Nahum was.

Nahum, one of the 12 minor

He

prophets, was a native of Galilee. delivered his prophecy in the reign of Hezekiah.

Subject of his prophecy.

The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the destruction of Nineveh by the Chaldeans. (B.C. 625.)

this prophecy.

The style of The style thereof is so graphic, minute, and pathetic, that the prophet seems to be describing a scene actually before his eyes.

State of

Nineveh. He says the city at the time would be full of inhabitants as a pool is full of water (ii. 10), of crowned heads as locusts, and of captains as grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day. (iii. 17.)

was taken.

Why Nineveh It was taken (he continues), not from weakness, but because its shep