future condition of other nations; and much lefs to decide pofitively and circumftantially. as to their decline, decay, and ruin. And yet we find that the great events of foreign. ftates, the fate of Nineveh, of Tyre, and of Babylon, the revolutions of Greece, and the power of Rome, were exactly foretold, and the predictions as exactly fulfilled.

Having premised thus much concerning the Scene of Prophecy, I now haften to the Pro phets themselves.

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Mofes was of the tribe of Levi, and was born in Egypt during the bondage of the Children of Ifrael, in the year before Christ 1.567, and in the year of the World 2433, He was miraculously rescued from deftruction by the daughter of Pharaoh, of which circumstance his name Mofes, or Moyfes, which fignifies in the Egyptian language, preferved out of water, is defcriptive; and he was edu cated by her direction in all the learning and

Calmet's Dictionary; Articles Mofes, Vol. II. p. 223, Bible, Vol. I. p. 292. Prophets, Vol. II. p. 455. Pentateuch, Vol. II. p. 379. Grotius de Veritate Chriftianæ Religionis. Du Pin's Canon. Du Pin's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory. Watfon's Apology for the Bible. Gray's Key, p. 45, &c.

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accomplishments of the Egyptians. He was chofen by God to be the deliverer and lawgiver of the Children of Ifrael, and to conduct them to the land of Canaan, according to the promise given to their father Abraham. He died in the 1 20th year of his age," when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated," on mount Nebo, on the borders of that land, which it was declared by the Lord he fhould fee, but not enter. As a prophet he was eminently distinguished. The Jews have conftantly attributed to him the highest degree of infpiration; and in the New Teftament he is always mentioned with fingular honour. By the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and other heathen nations, Mofes was acknowledged not only as the most ancient lawgiver, and as an hiftorian of the ftricteft veracity, but, according to the style, in which they expreffed their veneration for the greatest characters of antiquity, he was placed among the Gods, and worshipped under various names. And writers of the earliest ages have either confirmed his hiftory by yet earlier tradition, or have borrowed from thence the ground-work of their fictions. He has been celebrated as a general, a legiflator, a prophet, and a magician by prophane writers of almost all descriptions, and

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of almost all ages; and his character is established by the uninterrupted testimony, which the Jews have given, from the time in which he lived to the prefent hour. His writings we shall confider presently.

Isaiah was of the tribe of Judah, and of noble birth. He began to prophesy about B. C. 758, Y. W. 3246, was nearly contemporary with Hofea, Joel, Amos, and Micah, and, according to a tradition among the Jews, was put to death in the first year of the reign of Manaffeh, B. C. 698. His name, which fignifies the falvation of Jehovah, is strongly defcriptive of the character of his prophecies, which give a remarkably clear and accurate view of the Meffiah and his kingdom, and he is therefore emphatically styled by Chriftian writers, the Evangelical Prophet.

Jeremiah was of the line of the priesthood, and confequently of the tribe of Levi. He was called to the prophetic office, which he exercifed for more than 40 years, nearly at the fame time with Zephaniah, in the 13th year of the reign of Jofiah. He was permitted to remain in Judea, the desolation of which he fo pathetically laments, after the first conqueft of Jerufalem by Nebuchad,

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nezzar, and was afterwards carried with hiš difciple Baruch into Egypt, where he was put to death. The Chronicle of Alexandria relates, that the Egyptians were incenfed against him on account of his predictions concerning their kingdom; but that Alexander the Great, hearing what he had foretold concerning himself, vifited the place of his burial, and ordered this Prophet's urn to be removed to Alexandria, where he built a magnificent monument to his memory. Conftantine the Great afterwards erected a tomb to his memory near Jerufalem, at the place where it was fuppofed he ufually refided: but as Ptolemy received the former account as genuine, it is far more probable that he died in Egypt.

Daniel was a descendant of the kings of Judah; he was carried captive to Babylon in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, B. C. 602, Y. W. 3398, when he was about 18 years of age. His illuftrious birth, various accomplishments, and confummate wisdom, raised him to the highest honours, first in the Babylonian, and afterwards in the Perfian court. He publicly professed and practifed the worship of his God, in defiance of every danger, and boldly predicted his fearful

fearful judgments to two of the most powerful and haughty tyrants of the earth, when called upon to explain the figns which they confeffed to be fent from heaven. Daniel contributed much towards spreading the knowledge of God among the Gentile nations, both during his life, which was extended to a great length, and by the number of his predictions relating to them, which foon became generally known, and fome of which were foon fulfilled. It is generally believed he died at Sufa, the capital of Perfia, where he had built a most magnificent edifice, mentioned by Jofephus, as a fepulchre for the Perfian and Parthian kings.

Malachi lived about 400 years before the birth of Chrift. His name, which fignifies bis Angel or Meffenger, like, that of Ifaiah, alludes to the principal fubject of his Prophecy. This Prophet faw the fecond Temple completed, and the facred rites of worship re-established after the return of the Jews from the Babylonifh captivity, and closed the feries of Prophets which had been continued from the time of Mofes, with the promife of another meffenger, who fhould immediately precede the long-expected Meffiah.

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