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Hosea prophesied about eight hundred years before Christ. He executed his office sixty years. He foretold the captivity and dispersion of the kingdom of Israel, the present state of the Jews, and other important events. His prophecies were bold and terrible against transgressors.

JOEL.

Joel prophesied against the sins of Judah, and foretold the Chaldean invasion, the total destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the glorious state of the Christian Church in the end of the world. Indeed, the latter was foreseen by most of the prophets who gave witness to Jesus Christ.

AMOS.

Amos was a herdsman. From this situation God called him to be a prophet. He pronounced the divine judgment against the Syrians, Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, all of which came to pass.

OBADIAH.

Obadiah is the shortest of all the books of the Old Testament, containing only twenty-one verses. The main subject of this prophecy is the punishment of the Edomites for their bad conduct towards the Jews; and, like the other prophecies, it contains some gracious promises to the people of God.

The fulfilment of Obadiah's prophecy would afford us amusement as well as instruction; but my plan will not admit of any more enlargement, lest I should make my work tedious.

JONAH.

Some consider Jonah as the most ancient of the prophets. His history is very interesting. He tells us that God commanded him to go to Nineveh and preach to the inhabitants of that city, which was the capital of the Assyrian empire; that instead of going there, he so disliked to deliver his message that he took a ship and sailed far away for another place, which was a sad piece of folly, and he suffered, as all will more or less, for his disobedience to God. On his way to Tarshish, a tempest sprung up, and the mariners threw everything overboard to save their lives. Still the ship was in danger, and Jonah all this time was fast asleep, when they summoned him to awake. They then thought that they would cast lots, and see if they would point out any one in the ship who had displeased God. This thought

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was doubtless directed by God himself, that Jonah might be detected and punished. "The lot fell upon Jonah." Jonah then said who he was, and confessed what he had done: that he had run away from delivering God's message. The mariners were shocked, and they asked what they should do to him. He felt humbled for his sin; and not wishing that they should

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