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Jeremiah lived through the successive reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah. He also continued to exhort, admonish, and threaten; intermixing consolatory promises, according to the prevalent dispositions of the people. He personally witnessed the calamities which finally overpowered the Jewish state; and strenuously preached repentance in every stage, as the only method to escape more dreadful manifestations of the divine wrath. He incessantly opposed the false prophets who soothingly spake peace, peace, where there was no peace, and were thus inspiring the king and the leaders of the people with presumptive hopes, as from the Lord, while they continued in a state of impenitence. His zeal was calumniated he was represented as an enemy to the state, by discouraging the government in its resistance to Nebuchadnezzar's arms: he was threatened with death; treated with ignominy, and thrown into a loathsome dungeon. But his integrity was unshaken, and his ardour in the cause of God undiminished. He not only predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the chiefs, but he distinctly mentioned the term of it, that its duration should be seventy years. So confident was he of the truth of his own predictions, that he afterwards

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wrote letters to the captives, exhorting them, in the name of the God of Israel, "build ye houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them, take ye wives and beget sons and daughters; that ye may increase there and not diminish, and seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. These injunctions were founded upon the promise," for lo! the days come saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it."+

When Johanan, in opposition to his counsels and predictions, fled into Egypt with the rem nant of Judah, taking Jeremiah with him_also, the prophetic spirit continued with Jeremiah. He now admonishes, with equal zeal and fidelity, the idolatrous Israelites who had fled into Egypt, in contempt of the divine authority; denounc ing the dreadful sentence "that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape, or remain; that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to † Jerem.ch. xxx, v. 3.

* Jerem. ch. xxix.

dwell there; for none shall return," that is, in a collective body. This prophet foretold also the defeat of Pharaoh's army, and the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar; the destruction of the Philistines; the punishment, and subsequent restoration of the Moabites and Ammonites, &c. and finally, the invasion and total destruction of Babylon, for the oppressions of Judah.

Ezekiel was among those who were taken to Babylon with their king Jehoiakin. He receiv ed the important commission to reprove the idolatrous practices, which were retained by many of the captives; to counteract the pernicious influence which the false prophets still exerted over them; and to assuage the spirit of discontent and complaint, manifested by others at the severity of their afflictions; assuring them that Jerusalem was to suffer much greater calamities, than those to which they were exposed in their captive state, or to which they had hitherto been witnesses. He reiterated the necessity of repentance and reformation, as the only means of being restored to the divine favour. His predictions extended to the nations which had been the seducers of Israel to the practice of idolatry, or had oppressed them by

* Jerem. ch. xliv. v. 14.

He encourages a

the power of their arms. spirit of repentance, and animates them to return to the service of the God of Jacob, by representing, in a prophetic vision, the rebuilding of the temple, and restoration of the true wor, ship, the destruction of idolatry, as well as their happy possession of the abode of their ancestors,

Although the prophecies of Daniel chiefly relate to future times, and to events in which Gentile nations were to become partakers, the services which he rendered to the captive Jews were eminently great. The superiority of his wisdom over all the men in the realm, renowned for that quality; the facility with which he interpreted dreams that were inexplicable by others; his conscientious adherence to the worship of the true God, in defiance of every threat and every suffering, not only raised his reputation in the court of his sovereign, but extended their beneficial effects over the children of the captivity. When "the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors . over all the wise men of Babylon," we may rest assured, that he would seek the prosperity of the Lord's people. We learn accordingly, that he obtained leave to place Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon. When his enemies sought his destruction, by a proposal with which they knew he could not comply, but to which the king, in an hour of vanity, consented, the persevering piety of Daniel gained him an universal conquest. He was miraculously preserved from the destruction which his enemies thought to be inevitable, while they were caught in the snare they had invidiously laid; and this miraculous preservation not only triumphed over the decree of the sovereign, but over his mind also. He was taught by it to revere the God of the Hebrews; for he made a decree that in every dominion of his kingdom, men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel." A decree of this kind, rendered the captives honourable in the eyes of their conquerors; was a pledge that they would be treated with the kindness, which should enable them to bear their captivity with patience, and prepare the way for their subsequent release.

Upon the eve of their return to Judea, and during that important period, the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, were raised up to persuade, animate, counsel, reprove, assist. By their aid the people were enabled to form the boldest resolu

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