Does our Lord make any, and what, reference to Jonah and the Ninevites? In whose reigns did Micah prophesy? p. 207. What denunciations does he utter against Israel and Judah? What remarkable prophecy did he utter about Christ, and which is referred to in Matt. ii.? Illustrate the spirit of love in which he wrote. What does Nahum's name signify, and show how suitable it is to the object of his prophecy. p. 208. 1 How does Nahum's prophecy remarkably illustrate the moral use of prophecy? With what book particularly should Nahum be read, and what may we learn from the comparison? When did Habakkuk prophecy, and by what are his writings remarkably distinguished? p. 209. What was the chief subject of his prophecy? What is that principle alluded to by Habakkuk, which forms the character of the true servant of God in every age? In whose reign did Zephaniah prophecy, and with what object? What prophets flourished after the return of the Jews from Babylon; and what was their leading object? What did Haggai foretel of the glory of the second temple, and how was this fulfilled? Mention some of Zechariah's prophecies relative to our blessed Lord. Who was the last of the prophets of the Old Testament, and what was his object as such? p. 212. Show the immediate connexion between his prophecy and the account with which the Evangelists, 400 years after, begin their Gospels. Give some illustration of the use of the arrangement of each prophecy, as made by the table. pp. 215-217. Give some account of the history of the Jews in the times between the Old and New Testament. p. 218. What was their religious state in the time of our Lord? 219. What account does Mosheim give of the religious state of the Gentile world? What does this show, in reference to our Lord's coming? What was the great object of our Lord's coming? How may we know whether we are really benefiting by his having come; and what should be our daily prayer? SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE New Testament consists of twenty-seven different books, written by eight different authors, all of whom lived at the same time with our blessed Lord. The books may be divided into four parts: The Gospels, The Acts, The Epistles, and The Revelation of St. John. § 1. ON THE Gospels. Gospel means good tidings; and this name is applied to the four first books of the New Testament, which contain an history, or rather such memoirs as the Holy Spirit in his wisdom saw fit should be recorded of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the Saviour of the world (Luke ii. 10). Hence also the writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are called Evangelists, as the bearers of these good tidings. St. Matthew and St. Luke trace this history from our Lord's conception by the Holy Ghost; St. Mark and St. John begin their accounts with his public appearance at his baptism. The following consideration will throw great light on the reading of the Gospels,-that our Lord's ministry was a course of religious education to his disciples, pursued step by step. The importance of this view of his ministry will appear in its harmonizing what might otherwise seem to present a difficulty to one just entering on the study of the Bible; namely, the difference between His mode of teaching and that of his Apostles. The law and the prophets were until John (Luke xvi. 16). John said enough to show that he was acquainted with the peculiar object of our Saviour's coming, "to make reconciliation for iniquity, &c." (Isa. liii. Dan. ix. 24. with John i. 29), but he did not enlarge upon it: he came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin, declaring the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Our Lord took up truth as his forerunner left it, enforcing the same elementary doctrine (Heb. vi. 1.) as that which characterised the ministry of the Baptist, urging it from the same consideration, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17). Hence, in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord enforces chiefly the spirituality of the moral law, touching very little on the doctrine of the atonement, the great doctrine of revelation, so much and so plainly insisted upon in the Epistles (1 Cor. ii. 2, &c.); because just views of the spirituality of the moral law— that it reached to the most secret thoughts, condemning anger without cause as murder, and a wanton look as adultery-were (to those who had so lost sight of this) a necessary preparation for their reception of the doctrine of the atonement (Gal. iii. 24). Again, because the people were too prejudiced to be instructed more clearly, our Lord spoke to them in parables,a mode not at all followed by his Apostles,-parables which, in most cases, he left unexplained. For some time he avoided an open disclosure of his character (Matt. xvi. 20; Mark iii. 11, 12; Luke iv. 41;) even forbidding others to declare it. He almost always calls himself the Son of Man, sometimes waving the assertion of his Divinity, as in his conversation with the rich young man (Mark x. 18); and he generally, throughout the earlier part of his ministry, speaks of himself as not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. xv. 24); and when sending his disciples to preach (Matt. x. 5), forbids them to go in the way of the Gentiles. This, to one just entering on the study of the Bible, might present difficulties, which are removed by the consideration that our Lord was carrying forward the same principle which had characterised the dispensation of mercy from the beginning, that of its "gradual" development. Even the very night before his crucifixion, our Lord, though explaining to his Apostles (John xiv-xvi; Matt. xxvi. 28.) more of the mysteries of the Gospel than he had previously done, adds, "I have many things to tell you, but ye cannot bear them yet;" doctrines which (though he had touched upon) even their minds were too prejudiced to receive, and which it required his death, resurrection, and ascension, to illustrate. (See Matt. xvi. 22; Mark ix. 32; Luke xviii. 34. xxiv. 25; Mark xvi. 14; Acts i. 6.) Archbishop Magee remarks, "until it was clearly established that Jesus was the Messiah, and until, by his resurrection crowning all his miraculous acts, it was made manifest that he who had been crucified by the Jews was he who should save them and all mankind from their sins, it must have been premature to explain how this was to be effected." To which a remark of Macknight may be added, "that our Lord came from heaven not so much to make the Gospel revelation, as to be the subject of it, by doing and suffering all that was necessary to procure the salvation of mankind, appointing his Spirit, after his ascension, to be its chief interpreter." And thus are we taught to look to the preaching of the Apostles in the Acts, and especially to their Epistles, both dictated by that Spirit who is emphatically called the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. i. 11), for the full view of the Christian dispensation (John xv. 26, 27). On the Gospel of ST. MATTHEW. St. Matthew, surnamed Levi, was a native of Galilee. His occupation was that of a publican, or tax-gatherer, under the Romans, at Capernaum. While thus employed in collecting the customs due upon commodities which were carried, and from persons who passed over the Lake of Gennesareth, he was called by our Lord to be his disciple (ch. ix. 9), and under the influence of his grace immediately obeyed. As an illustration of the spirit in which he wrote, it may be remarked, that in recording the names of the twelve Apostles (ch. x), he particularly speaks of himself under the opprobrious term of Matthew the publican (ver. 3), as one anxious to magnify the goodness of God in his election. See page 12. It is observable also, that the only notice he takes of the act by which he abandoned every worldly prospect for Christ, is in the following words: "As Jesus passed by, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, Follow me; and he arose and followed him" (ix. 9). The various instances of his weakness of faith, in common with that of the other disciples-his desertion of his Lord in Gethsemane (xxvi. 56), and that Joseph of Arimathea showed much more strength of faith, much more love than himself, in the awful hour of the Saviour's deepest humiliation; these are faithfully recorded. Thus presenting to us a bright example of humility and love of truth; and suggesting to us the prayer for grace to forsake, as he did, all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches, and follow the same Saviour.-See Collect for St. Matthew's day. It is generally agreed that St. Matthew's Gospel was the first written, and that he wrote it in Palestine, about six or eight years after our Lord's ascension. It treats of the following subject: Ch. i. ii. The infancy of our blessed Lord. Ch. iii. iv. 1—11. Events preparatory to our Lord's public ministry; including the account of the ministry of John the Baptist, his forerunner; and his own baptism and temptation. Ch. iv. 12.-xx. 16. Our Lord's public ministry, particularly in Galilee. Ch. xx. 17.-xxviii. Transactions more immediately connected with his last sufferings, death, and resurrection. As the Evangelists have many qualities in common, so there is in each, that which distinguishes him from the There are two which distinguish St. Matthew. The adaptation of his narrative to the Jews. The distinctness and particularity with which he has related many of our Lord's discourses. rest. First. The adaptation of his narrative to the Jews, which appears, (1.) In his reference to Jewish customs, cities, and places, as well known by his readers. (2.) In the prominency he gives to those particulars of our Lord's history, which were most likely to convince the Jews that Jesus was the Christ: for instance, "No sentiment relative to the Messiah was more prevalent among them than that he should be of the race of Abraham and family of David; and accordingly we find that St. Matthew begins his narrative by showing the descent of Jesus from these two illustrious persons. He then relates the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the city in which the Messiah was expected to be |