1. _Who are the prophets referred to in the text_? They are the men to whom the term is strictly applicable. We do not forget such names as Moses and Samuel, and Elijah and Elisha, and others; but their prophecies are not given with the formality of those distinct books to which perhaps St. Peter refers. In point of time Jonah comes just with his message of woe to the city of Nineveh. Amos the herdman and Hosea his contemporary follow. Then Joel with his thunder, and Isaiah with his evangelism; Micah with his earnestness; Nahum with his sublimity; and Zephaniah with his severity, take their place in about equal succession. Jeremiah then appears with all his weightiness of matter and solemnity of manner. Habakkuk in briefer form takes up the same subjects. Daniel with great grandeur of style dwells on the topics of the text. Obadiah stands between him and Ezekiel as though to make them both more prominent. At a later period come Haggai and Zechariah; and then Malachi closes the illustrious train, taking the last pen from the wing of inspiration, or putting the signet upon the scroll of prophecy. Some of these may be especially referred to; but we include them all: for "to Him give all the prophets witness; that in his name whosoever believeth in Him shall have forgiveness of sins." (i.) They were _men_; not angels, or belonging to some order of being superior to ourselves; but they were members with us of the same human family, and "subject to like passions as we are." They were _sinners_: born with the old taint of corruption; subject to hereditary guilt, depravity, and death, and exposed to all the evils to which flesh is heir. They were _redeemed sinners_, included in that same covenant of mercy of which we make our boast. They were therefore _personally interested_ in those truths which became the subject of their search. The original promise belonged to them as well as to us. They claimed an interest in the leading facts of patriarchal history, and in the gorgeous ceremonial of the Mosaic Institute. All the events of divine providence which were preparing the way for the Messiah's coming, and the predictions which they themselves uttered, had some personal bearing. They were not uninterested students of past history, of present circumstances, or of future events. Their own destinies were involved in the truths they taught.