about 758 years before Christ. It is uncertain how long he continued to prophesy; some have thought that he died in the 15th or 16th year of Hezekiah's reign, and in that case he prophesied about forty-five years; but it appears more probable that he was put to death by command of Manasseh, in the first year of his reign, and in that case he prophesied more than 61 years (i). Isaiah is uniformly spoken of in Scripture as a prophet of the highest dignity; Bishop Lowth calls him the prince of all the prophets, and pronounces the whole of his work, except a few detached passages, to be poetical (k). His style is universally allowed to be remarkable for its elegance, force, and sublimity; and he gives so copious and circumstantial an account of the promised Messiah and his kingdom, that he has been emphatically called the Evangelical Prophet. This book, however, is not confined to prophecies relative to our Saviour; it contains many other predictions, and likewise several historical relations.

(i) It is said that he was sawn asunder with a wooden saw; that mode of his death is supposed to be alluded to, Heb. c. II. v. 37.

(k) The prophecies of Isaiah were modulated to a kind of rhythm, and they are evidently divided into certain metrical stanzas or lines.-Gray.

lations. It may be considered under six general divisions; the first division consists of the first five chapters, containing a general description of the state and condition of the Jews in the several periods of their history; the promulgation and success of the Gospel, and the coming of Christ to judgment. The second division consists of the next seven chapters, containing the promise to Ahaz, which was predictive of Christ, whose nature, birth, and kingdom, are distinctly described in the 9th chapter: the denunciations of punishment upon the Assyrians, in the 10th chapter, seem an interruption to this glorious subject, which is resumed in the 11th, where the prophet breaks out into a hymn of praise, celebrating the future triumphant state of the church. The third division, which reaches from the 13th to the 27th chapter inclusive, begins with a very remarkable prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, which is considered as a type of Antichrist; it then describes the fate of the Jews, Assyrians, Moabites, Philistines, Arabians, Syrians, and Egyptians, and concludes in a manner. similar to the last. The fourth division, which extends from the 28th to the 35th chapter inclusive, contains predictions relative to the then approaching invasion of Sennacherib; but it is interspersed with severe reproofs and threats against

the

the Jews for disobedience and wilful blindness, and also with consolatory promises to those who should remain faithful in the service of God, alluding frequently to the times of the Gospel. The 36th, and two following chapters, which constitute the fifth division, give an historical account of the invasion of Sennacherib, and of the prolongation of Hezekiah's life. The sixth division reaches from the 39th chapter to the end of the book: here the prophet generally addresses his countrymen as being actually in the captivity which he had previously foretold; he predicts the total destruction of the empire of Babylon, and the restoration of the Jews to their own land, by their great deliverer Cyrus, whom he represents the Almighty as calling upon by name to execute his will, above 100 years before his birth. In this latter part of the book are principally contained the numerous prophecies, already noticed, concerning the birth, ministry, death, and religion of Christ, together with a variety of circumstances which were to precede and follow his incarnation. "These prophecies seem almost to anticipate the gospel history, so clearly do they foreshew the divine character of Christ; his miracles; his peculiar qualities and virtues; his rejection and sufferings for our sins; his death, burial, and victory over death; and

lastly,

lastly, his final glory, and the establishment, increase, and perfection of his kingdom, each specifically pointed out and pourtrayed with the most striking and discriminating characters (1).” With these predictions are mixed earnest exhortations to faith and obedience, and positive denunciations of God's wrath against the impenitently wicked; the most comfortable assurances of the constant providence of God, and the fulfilment of all his gracious promises, and descriptions of the glorious state of the Church, when it shall be enlarged by the conversion of the Jews, and the fulness of the Gentiles, in terms inimitably suited to the variety and loftiness of the subjects.

Jeremiah was of the sacerdotal family, and a native of Anathoth, a village about three miles distant from Jerusalem. He was called to the prophetic office in the 13th year of Josiah's reign, B. C. 628, and continued to exercise it above 41 years. He was suffered to remain in Judæa, when his countrymen were carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and he afterwards. retired into Egypt with Johanan the son of Kareah. Some accounts state that he returned into his own country, and died there; but Jerome says, which seems more probable, that he was stoned

(1) Gray.

stoned to death at Talpesha, a royal city of Egypt, about 586 years before Christ. Though his prophecies are not supposed to be in all cases arranged according to the order in which they were delivered, we find him not unfrequently, in the latter part of the book, appealing to prophecies contained in the former chapters, which had been since fulfilled. The most remarkable predictions are, the Babylonian captivity, with the precise time of its duration, and the return of the Jews; the fate of Zedekiah; the destruction of Babylon most accurately described, in terms which are usually considered as applicable likewise to the mystical Babylon or Antichrist; the downfal of many other nations; the miraculous conception of Christ; the efficacy of his atonement; the spiritual nature of his religion, and the general conversion and restoration of God's antient people. Jeremiah also bewails in most pathetic terms the obstinate wickedness of the Jews, and describes, in plain and impressive language, the calamities which impended over them. He sometimes breaks out into the most feeling and bitter complaints of the treatment which he received from his countrymen, whose resentment he provoked by the severity of his reproofs. The style of Jeremiah, though deficient neither in sublimity nor elegance, is con

sidered