CHAPTER V.

THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES OF THE BIBLE.

THE Prophets and Apostles of the Bible present us with a subject at once attractive, instructive, and important. Of whatever else we might speak, to leave these out of our survey of Scriptural characters would be to omit the most peculiar and distinguishing class of all. These may, indeed, be called the Greater Lights of Bible Character. It is only when we come to the Prophets of the Old Testament, and the Apostles of the New, that we reach the climax of Jewish history.

men.

We have already, in our diversified illustrations of Scripture character, had occasion to portray some of these great examples, as they appeared on the stage of life and action. Some of them were poets and orators. Some were sages and statesMost of them were heroes. They were endowed with many great gifts; and held many high and responsible offices amongst men. But they held a peculiar relation to God, in virtue of their own great office-a relation unshared by any other class of men. It remains now to present them in the character of Prophets and Apostles. And here we seem to breathe a higher atmosphere, to tread a holier ground. We have, indeed, ascended to the very mountain tops of Divine revelation. We do not mean to imply that there was nothing

holy and Divine in all that lower ground through which we have been passing. On the contrary, we have seen marks of Divinity mingling with the human at every step. We have seen the glorious light of a Divine inspiration breaking forth everywhere in all the Scriptures, from the words and mighty deeds of heroes, sages, poets, orators, kings, statesmen, young men, and maidens. But still, it is only when we approach these holy men of old, in their prophetic and apostolic offices, that we see the light shining in its brightest splendour-shining as in its own native heaven. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

I. PROPHETICAL CHARACTERS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

The word Prophet is one of wide significance in the Bible. It would be tedious to mention here its many different shades of meaning. We shall point out only two-the broadest and the narrowest sense. In the widest sense, it denotes a teacher, expounder, or preacher, of the word of God, whether inspired or uninspired. In this sense Aaron was a prophet. And, in this sense, not only all the sacred writers, but all the Levites of the old dispensation, and all the preachers of the New Testament, were prophets. But in its narrower and more appropriate sense, it denotes a foreteller of the future, one inspired of God to predict coming events-a seer or foreseer of what is unknown to other men. It is only in this last restricted sense, that we shall speak of the Prophets of the Bible at present. In this sense there are about fifty true prophets of the Lord, who are either expressly mentioned by name as such, in Scripture, or are entitled to the distinction, from the

fact of their foretelling things to come. Sixteen of these, from Isaiah to Malachi, hold a place in the sacred canon, being not only the speakers but the inspired writers of Divine predictions the authors of the several books bearing their respective names, four of them called the greater and twelve the lesser prophets, according to the size of their books.

The earliest name on the roll of prophecy is that of Enoch beyond the flood. If we except Noah's prediction of the deluge, and except, also, the Divine promise of a Saviour given. in the garden of Eden, Enoch's is the only prophecy which has come down to us from the antediluvian world. This we have on the authority of the Apostle Jude, in the following words-"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these also, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." There is something impressive and sublime in this ancient prophecy-a prediction of the end of time and of the last judgment, handed down, first in a voice of tradition, and then of Scripture over all the intervening ages! "It is remarkable," says an ingenious writer, "that, though the first of the prophets, he prophesied of the last event in the history of the worldthe coming of the Lord-as if no event betwixt were majestic enough for him to touch, who, even on earth, was breathing the air of the upper paradise, and was, in a little while, to be caught up among the visions of God."

But to us, the most remarkable circumstance is this, that the principal prophet of each of the three great dispensations of the world's history should be translated to heaven by an

ascension in the flesh. There have been three grand periods. of history, as portrayed in the Bible, the Antediluvian, the Jewish, and the Christian. Each of these has had its great prophet, towering majestically above all his fellows, the three forming an ascending scale-Enoch in the first, Elijah in the second, and Jesus Christ in the third. And, as if to show how close is the connection between the seen and the unseen world-how deep an interest heaven has in earth, and earth in heaven-the great prophet of each dispensation has been taken up in a visible form, soul and body, into the heavens. If there were no other proof of the dignity of the prophetical character, this fact alone the ascension of Enoch, Elijah, and Christwould be enough to show to all generations what unusual honour God has conferred upon it. None but a prophet of the Lord has ever been translated from earth to heaven in the body.

II. THE PROPHECY OF JACOB.

From Enoch let us now pass to the patriarch Jacob across an interval of more than a thousand years. This long period, however, was not without its inspired prophets. We might speak of Noah preaching righteousness, and predicting the flood; and also of Abraham who foresaw the day of Christ, and is expressly called a prophet. But we pass over these, to linger for a little while near the death-bed of the venerable Jacob, as he foretells what shall befall his sons in the last days, and the coming of Shiloh, ere the sceptre should depart from Judah. This death-bed of Jacob was, perhaps, the most touching and remarkable scene of all that had occurred to him in his long and checkered life. On the approach of death, he

seems to have been more signally endowed with the spirit of prophecy than his father Isaac had been on the like occasion. And he accordingly delivers a more full and beautiful prediction of the coming of the great Messiah, than had hitherto been given. It was the third stage of the Messianic prophecy. It was a great advance on the promise made to Abraham"In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed"even as that was a great advance on the promise made to Adam-"The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."

This great förefather of the twelve tribes of Israel, whose name of honour from God gave name to the nation, was called to lead a most diversified and eventful life. In his youth the good and the evil had often struggled for the mastery; and in his old age it seemed to be an even match between adversity and prosperity, and it was long doubtful which should win the day. He was among the patriarchs what Jeremiah was among the prophets. He was the sorrowing patriarch. He had often to drink the cup of tears. And yet his life, upon the whole, and especially in its serene and peaceful issue, was a prosperous and happy one. That may be called a blessed and glorious life which ends well, notwithstanding all its dark days of trial and adversity. The sins and errors of Jacob's youth seemed but the more to display the power of that grace which at last prevailed and made him a prince with God; while the dark storms of adversity and trial that so often beat upon his head in old age, only made the sunshine of heaven's blessing appear the brighter, when once it emerged from the clouds. There is, perhaps, no one of these old Bible characters that comes nearer home to our own hearts in the experience of life, than this same tempted, erring, praying, God-fearing, hard-working,