AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM. WITH what a mixture of fear, reverence, and holy joy should we open the Bible! The book of truth and happiness! God's heart opened to man! It is God, not man, who speaks to us in every page of Scripture. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) The five Prophets we are now to speak of were among the number of these "holy men."

AMOS was a herdsman, unlearned, and living in the country, among flocks at Tekoa, a village not far from Bethlehem. Who but the Lord could have enabled this simple, quiet herdsman to speak such things, and fearlessly to rebuke the worship of the golden calf at Bethel, (chap. vii. 10,) in the days of Jeroboam II.? Find out in every chapter of his prophecy something in his language that is borrowed from rural scenery. In chap. ii. 13, he speaks of our sins being a burden to God: what does he mean by this? Where do you find these words,

Prepare to meet thy God?" and these, "Seek ye Me, and ye shall live?" We call Amos the Herdsman Prophet, who warns, invites, prays, and promises.

OBADIAH's prophecy is the shortest book in the Old Testament. While God chose to tell us much about who Amos was, He tells us not a word about Obadiah personally. Like one of the eagles that travellers see at Petra, soaring high over the rocks, and darting downward on their prey, so Obadiah boldly and abruptly darts down his prophetic announcement of Edom's ruin. In verses 3, 4, be

nounces.

is alluding to Petra, built so peculiarly; the dwellings and palaces being cut out of rock. Pride and vant of brotherly love are the sins which he deHe speaks of " thieves by night :" does our Lord use any expression like this? What portion of the Lord's prayer are you reminded of by verse 21? Obadiah is the Foreteller of proud Edom's loom.

JONAH, of Gath-hepher, is known to us all. How strange his history! The Lord's message, the ship, the great storm, the great fish, the great city, Nineveh, the gourd, the east wind, the sea, the little worm. Where does Christ speak of Jonah as a type? And what does He speak of the men of Nineveh which we should apply to ourselves? Jonah was a man of many infirmities, but so humbled under them, that he honestly tells them all, and does not try to excuse them. Is this your way with your faults? It needs grace to enable us to do this. Read of him again in 2 Kings xiv. 25. He lived soon after Elisha, and was the first Prophet sent to the Gentiles. Amos was sent to the ten tribes; Obadiah to Edom, or Idumæa; and Jonah was sent to the great city of Assyria. call him, Jonah, the Awakener of Nineveh.

We

MICAH, of Mareshah in Judah, was probably a friend of the Prophet Isaiah, along with whom he prophesied. He denounces the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem, and foretells their ruin, but at the same time declares that the Lord has wondrous grace in reserve for Israel in the latter day. It is he who tells that Bethlehem was to be Christ's

birthplace; and hence an old writer calls him, "The wise men's star." (See Matt. ii. 6.) What verses in this Prophet are the same as Isaiah? and what verse about "Zion ploughed as a field" is quoted in Jeremiah? Where does Micah speak of "the Spirit of the Lord?" Learn that song of pardon, chap. vii. 18-20. Micah is sometimes called "briefer Isaiah," on account of his matter and style resembling Isaiah.

NAHUM, of Elkosh, begins his prophecy by setting forth the name of the Lord, which like the pillar that guides Israel, has a bright and a dark side. Can you mention the awful things he says about the Lord's name? and then the sweet, attractive things? Nahum was sent to tell the ruin of Nineveh, which had relapsed into idolatry and open sin since Jonah's days. In our time, a great deal has been discovered about Nineveh; its site has been explored; remains of its palaces found; and in these palaces, remarkable sculptures, which prove how faithfully Nahum described the manners and state of that great city. The word of God is true and accurate to the very letter. This Prophet warns Israel, and us also, by the judgments sent on the despisers of God. We call him the Foreteller of Nineveh's doom.

Surely the number and variety of these messengers testify that our God is in earnest with us. See how He speaks to us by "line upon line." And shall we not make His word known to our fellow-men? Shall we not take an interest in Bible Societies? Cyprian, one of the Fathers, was arrested by reading

the book of Jonah. Let us pray that all who read these books in their own tongue, may, at the same time, feel what they read, through the teaching and power of the Holy Ghost, who moved these holy men of old to speak and write these prophecies.Children's Missionary Record of the Free Church of Scotland.

WITHOUT attempting to describe the various parts of this attire, let us say a word or two about the shoes.

Ladies of rank seem to have paid much attention to the beauty of their sandals. (Sol. Song vii. 1)

Those of Egypt, especially, did so. But, probably, this taste was general. At the present day, dressslippers are embroidered with flowers and other figures wrought in silk, silver, and gold.

Hebrew sandals were usually of more substantial make and material. The high shoes of the bride may have been designed to signify, as in emblem, the joy and distinction conferred on her.

WILLIE, THE LOST CHILD.

Do not the very words, " a lost child," make you think of dark forests, or deep glens, or lonely mountains, where you yourself may some day wander and miss the way? Ah! but the place where this poor little lost one strayed was darker than the darkest forest of earth, deeper than its deepest glen, lonelier than its loneliest mountain; for little Willie was lost in a coal-pit!

Willie was a Welsh boy, and lived in a collieryvillage not far from the mouth of a pit that had been worked in for many and many a year. His father, being a miner, did not think it wrong to make his little boy lead the same dark life as himself; so when Willie was about ten years old, he had to spend ten hours, and sometimes even twelve hours, a day in the pit. A very dark life indeed it was, as those who have seen even the mouth of a coal-pit will believe. He was soon made one of the trappers of the pit. In every mine there are several doors made, to prevent too much or wrong currents of air getting into the long under-ground passages.