SCRIPTURE READING EXERCISE.

THE PROPHETIC BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. (Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: "Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart."—ZECHARIAH.

NOTES.

1. The Greater and Minor Prophets: "A review of the books as they stand in our Bible gives us first the Greater Prophets, and secondly the Minor Prophets. It should be understood that this arrangement is determined by the length of the books, not by the comparative rank of the writers. The minor prophets are not to be regarded as necessarily less important persons than the greater prophets. Amos may have been a grander man than Ezekiel—yet Amos is classed with the minor and Ezekiel with the greater prophets. This simply means that we have less of the writings of Amos preserved than of those of Ezekiel—and so of the other minor prophets." (Cambridge Bible Helps, p. 34.)

2. The Historic Period of the Minor Prophets: "The Minor Prophets form in the Hebrew canon one whole, and go collectively under the name of the Book of the Twelve Prophets. They cover a period of four hundred years, from the ninth to the fifth centuries before Christ, but they are not arranged in the order of the time of their production." (Cambridge Bible Helps, p. 41.)

3. Passages from the Prophets Quoted by Moroni to Joseph Smith: "After telling me these things, (concerning the Book of Mormon) he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi, and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:

"For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

"And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus:

"'Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.'

"He also quoted the next verse differently:

"'And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.'

"In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that Prophet was Christ, but the day had not yet come when "they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people," but soon would come. He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fullness of the Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of Scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be mentioned here." (History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 12, 13.)