void, and waste." The fate of Nineveh, at last, should teach sinners not to trifle with God. He is merciful, but he is also just. The sinner who truly repents shall without doubt be saved, but he who returns to his wickedness and hardens himself shall perish.

HABAKKUK.

Habakkuk was one of the prophets employed to foretel the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.

ZEPHANIAH.

Zephaniah prophesied, not only against the wicked Jews, but also against the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Ethiopians.

HAGGAI.

Haggai, by his prophecies, encouraged the rebuilding of the temple after the Jews had been restored by Cyrus, and the decree in their favour was renewed by Darius, as you read in Ezra, and Nehemiah.

ZECHARIAH.

Zechariah's prophecies also encouraged the Jews in the rebuilding of the the temple. He has some remarkable prophecies respecting some minute particulars in the life of Jesus Christ, as his riding on a colt, the foal of an ass, and the price paid to Judas to betray him.

MALACHI.

Malachi was the last of the prophets of the Old Testament. He was known as a prophet about a hundred and twenty years after the Jews returned from Babylon, and four hundred and twenty years before Christ. He prophesied of Christ, and of his herald John the Baptist, who should have the spirit and courage of Elijah; representing Christ as a glorious sun, who should arise and shine upon the nations darkened by ignorance, with health upon his beams.

With Malachi, the gift of prophecy under the old dispensation ceased, for John the Baptist was rather the immediate forerunner, than the prophetic preacher of Jesus. Four hundred years of history, from the time of

Malachi to the coming of the Saviour into the world, must therefore be filled up from what is called ancient or profane history-called profane, not because it is wicked, but because it has no pretensions to be sacred like the Bible.

Thus, by the good providence of God, I have brought my Commentary on the Old Testament to a close. I shall be happy if my labours have been the means of affording you amusement and instruction; but much more so, if they have led you to love the holy word of God, and to trust in that blessed and divine Saviour to whom I have often referred as shadowed forth in the sacrifices of the ceremonial law, and foretold by the prophets; and on whose most interesting life, death, and sufferings, we hope more particularly to dwell in some future thoughts on the NEW TESTAMENT.

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S we are now entering upon a new part of the Holy Scriptures, it may be desirable to explain to you the difference between that which we have gone through, and that which we are about to notice. That which we have gone through, is called THE OLD TESTAMENT, and that which we are about to notice, is called THE NEW TESTAMENT. Testament is a word which properly means covenant or agreement. From Genesis to Malachi, we have the book first given to the Jews, and which contains all the agreements and promises made with and to them, by their kind and gracious God. But when Jesus Christ came into the world, he declared the mercy of God, not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles, or all the other nations which were then heathen. This declaration is called The New Covenant, because the former is no longer in existence, for that confined God's favours to the Jewish Church, but this opens them freely to people of all nations on the face of the earth. Some call this second volume of the Sacred Scriptures, a will, for by that name we sometimes express a testament. When understood as a will, it means something left by a friend, to be given us after his death. So, by the death of Jesus Christ, pardon, and peace, and heaven are bestowed upon all who believe in him; and for the purpose of giving us this information the New Testament is published.

All the terms of the old covenant are now done away. Circumcisionor an incision, or cut on the flesh, as the mark of an Israelite-and the