Neh. xii. 23. It is most likely that there may have been copious annals of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which have now perished. There was, at the Jewish court, the special office of a recorder -as appears from 2 Samuel viii. 16; 1 Kings iv. 3; 2 Kings xviii. 18, and 1 Chron. xviii. 15. Amid the uncertainties which obtain, as to the precise writers of the Chronicles in the Bible, it may be stated, as one argument for the common opinion of Ezra having written the greater part of them— that the last verses of the second book of Chronicles and the first verses of the book of Ezra are identical. Still parts of the compilation must have been written during the subsistence of the Jewish kingdom-as is obvious from 2 Chron. v. 9; viii. 8; x. 19, and xxi. 10. That they had the canonical rank of scriptures, and were admitted to that ark in the temple from which the Apocrypha were excluded, is argued from the use made of them in the genealogies of Matthew and Lukefrom the general reasons already adduced, in which they fully participate-and from the multitude of scriptural references which are made to them, of which we now offer a few specimens. "Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite," 1 Chron xxi. 18. "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite," 2 Chron. iii. 1.-"Josiah

came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died: and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah," 2 Chron. Xxxv. 22-24. "In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," Zech. xii. 11.-" And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy," 2 Chr. xxxvi. 15, 16. "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, (that is the three and twentieth year,) the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear," Jer. xxv. 3, 4. "I have also sent unto you all the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me," Jer. xxxv. 15.— "To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbaths to fulfil threescore and ten years," 2 Chr. xxxvi. 21. "These nations shall serve the

:

king of Babylon seventy years.

And it shall come

to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord," Jer. xxv. 11, 12. "For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place," Jer. xxix. 10. It is obvious that the prophets, who lived prior to the captivity must supply a good many references to these historical books; and, in regard to the likely authors of them, let it be observed once more— that Samuel and some of the prophets in Acts iii. 24, must have had a hand in their composition. Certain it is of Samuel, that no prophetical book, in the common sense of that term, has been transmitted by him; and where then can he have spoken of the days of the New Testament? Surely whatever is referred to as spoken by one so ancient, must have been written by him also-else it would have perished from the memory of the nation. They who were charged by the Saviour as slow in heart, for not believing all that the prophets had spoken, were culpable in this-that they had not. attended to that which was written; and, to repair this defect, did our Saviour expound all which was "written" in Moses, and the Psalms, and the Prophets concerning himself. In like manner that which was spoken by Joel (Acts ii. 16) was that which was written by him. That which was spoken of in the prophets (Acts xiii. 40) was that which was written of in them. And Samuel and the prophets that follow after, as many as had

spoken, were just as many as had written-proving that Samuel and other inspired men, though we cannot point to the writings severally of each, have, somewhere or other, had their share in the writings of the Old Testament."

22. Ezra and Nehemiah.†] These two books anciently composed one volume. Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of Moses; and, by the universal consent of antiquity, acted the part of an inspired editor of all the Jewish scriptures that

+ We might remark, in passing, a monumental evidence for the books both of Ezra and Daniel, in the tinge or mixture of the Chaldaic with the Hebrew in their composition.

were extant in his time. That he was the author of the book of Ezra, is collected from the frequent occurrence of his name in the first person. "God hath extended mercy unto me before the king; and I was strengthened," Ezra vii. 27, 28. "And

at the evening sacrifice, I arose up from my heaviness; and I fell upon my knees," Ezra ix. 5. The prayer is in the first person; and, when ended, the narrative is resumed of Ezra in the third person (Ezra x. 1). He uses the first person also in Ezra viii. 15, &c. The canonical authority of this book is argued from its unexcepted place in all the ancient catalogues-from the implication of it with the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariahand from the illustration which it sheds on the prophecies of both. Compare particularly the first chapter of Haggai, and the third and fourth of Zechariah with the fifth chapter of Ezra. And there are other scriptural references besides in favour both of this book and that of Nehemial. "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build hia an house in Jerusalem, which is at Judah," Ezra i. 2. "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid," Is. xliv. 28. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed; to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him," Is. xlv. 1. "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways," Isaiah xlv. 13.—" Then the prophets, Haggai the

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