The words of the second verse of chapter vi., _After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up_, ‘refer to the extraordinary discomfiture of the Assyrians in the reign of Hezekiah.’ _For behold, in those days when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all the nations_, &c. (Joel, iii. 1). ‘These words have a literal application to the defeat of the Assyrians and the glories of Hezekiah’s reign. Disasters many have befallen the chosen seed; but their oppressors will in turn be desolated, and Judah, restored, shall dwell for ever in Jerusalem.’ The texts in MICAH generally spoken of as exclusively prophetical of Christ, our commentator thinks refer literally to Hezekiah and times subsequent to the defeat of the Assyrians. _But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, out of thee shall he come forth to be a ruler in Israel_, viz., ‘Hezekiah, who will deliver the people from the Assyrian.’ _Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion; shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee lowly, and riding upon an ass, even on a colt, the foal of an ass._ This text, which is referred to Christ in Matthew (chapter xxii.), is connected by Villanovanus with the compassionate Zerubabel and his entrance into Jerusalem. No one will be surprised to learn that these comments of the learned Villanovanus did not escape the notice of the great ecclesiastical centres of his day. That of Lyons is by-and-by found condemning outright both them and the book they pretend to illustrate. That of Madrid is content to order by far the greater number of the glosses to be expunged, but leaves the Bible itself available to the privileged; whilst that of Rome, less tolerant, not only condemns the expositions, but puts the book upon the _Index prohibitorius_. The perusal of such comments, preparatory to drawing the pen through them, it was surmised by the far-sighted ecclesiastics of Rome might lead to independent thought, and this is precisely what the Church they represent would have every man, woman, and child in the land most carefully to eschew.