and wizards that peep and that mutter." What else could he mean than men in a state of wild ecstasy? And in what other way can we dispose of the predictions of Balaam? But let us not be thought to elevate the divination of an intoxicated mind to a level with the prophecies of Scripture. There is a gulf between them which sunders them as far apart as heaven is from earth.

Exterior History of Scripture Prophecy.

Prophecies are mentioned early in biblical history, as far back, indeed, as patriarchal times. We find Noah prophesying an unhappy future for Canaan and his descendants, and a prosperous one for his two remaining sons. But Moses was the first real prophet. True, in the first four books of the Pentateuch he does not bear the usual prophetic name, ; but we learn in Numbers xii, 6, 7, that he is even more than a prophet, since God speaks to him "mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches." Without doubt he is here shown to us as the appointed prophet for the organization, guidance, purification, and triumph of the theocracy. When he passed away Joshua, "a man in whom was the Spirit," took his place. Then came the Judges, the last of whom, Samuel, was specially called by God himself to be a prophet. From his time the prophets constituted a distinct class and a continuous succession. (Acts iii, 24.)

In order to afford some spiritual counterpoise to the newly established royalty in Israel, Samuel founded several Schools of the Prophets for the awakening and cultivation of religious life in those young men who not only became possessors of the true prophetic fire, but were the chosen watchmen over the theocracy. There were schools for this purpose at Gilgal, Jericho, Bethel, and Rama, this last presided over by Samuel himself. Hieronymus drew a parallel between these institutions and the early monastic cloisters; but the resemblance is very faint. The nearest approach to an analogy furnished anywhere in history is found in the Pythagorean Societies, between which and the prophetic schools there are some striking points of resemblance. But our modern theological seminaries bear the same relation to the Christian Church of the present day that those schools did to the theocracy of Israel. As to how the

young prophets lived we know but very little. Some of them were married, (2 Kings iv, 1;) they dwelt together, ate at a common table, and attended to their own wants, (2 Kings iv, 38; vi, 1.) We learn from 1 Samuel x, 5, that they sang and prophesied with the accompaniment of instrumental music; in fact, music was one of their important studies. Besides, 7 every student was required to study carefully the prophecies of all his predecessors. It was in the time of Elias and Elisha that these schools were most numerous and in the flower of their prosperity. But we must not suppose, in speaking of schools' of the prophets, that every prophet had to attend one of them. On the contrary, the most distinguished prophets were called directly to their high work from their secular pursuit. Amos was called by the word of God from following a herd, (Amos vii, 14;) and Elijah cast his mantle on Elisha when the latter was plowing in the field, (1 Kings xix, 19.) Such special calls as these were exceptional, and were no doubt made also to individual students at the schools.

The Sphere of Prophetic Activity.

The practical influence of the prophets was not limited to the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, but was extended even beyond Palestine. Naaman sought the miraculous aid of the prophet; and even Benhadad, when he learned about the wonderful works of the man of God, offered him costly presents for his blessing. In times of persecution we find the prophets dwelling in the deserts and mountain caves; but in peaceful seasons we meet them not only in the schools devoted to their order, but at the courts of kings. They appear in the public places of Jerusalem, and in the courts and halls of the temple. The question occurs to us, How could the prophets support themselves, since they left their secular pursuit when called to their loftier duties? Some of them were of the priesthood, as Nathan, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and they enjoyed the emoluments of their priestly office. Elisha had his own house in Samaria, (2 Kings v, 9;) and Jeremiah bought the little piece of land where he had been born. But the prophets were rewarded for their labors by gifts from the people, and still greater ones from the kings. Their dress, if not ascetic, was exceedingly coarse and plain. Instead of linen clothes they

wore the skins of sheep and goats, which gave rise to their appellation of "hairy men."

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The divine word called these men to be prophets, and they were not merely the publicly recognized "men of God," messengers of God," to stand before the assembled multitudes as preachers of righteousness; but their duty was also to come privately into the presence of the great and mighty, and reprove them for their sins, as Gad and Nathan before David, and Elias before Ahab. Well might kings tremble in the presence of men who spoke with such authority. How the robed and sceptered monarchs wept and cringed before these humble prophets, who accused them of sin, and fearlessly pronounced God's impending judgments upon them! These men were the statesmen of their times. We read the great orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and think them statesmen. But far greater, and purer ones too, were the prophets of God. Their knowledge and management of political questions prove them to have been masters of statesmanship and diplomacy. They were patriots too. Nowhere will we find warmer hearts for native land than they had. Their country was the theme of many bright hopes and endless pleasant memories. It was the home which God had given them, and it is not surprising that their tears flowed freely whenever it suffered.

The first great power with which the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel had to deal was Assyria. But the Assyrians had not yet crossed the Euphrates, and Jeroboam II. was still reigning in Israel when Amos declared that the rod of Assyria should afflict them, and the king be led an exile into an unclean land. Some years before the overthrow of Samaria Micah said: "What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof." What a terrific rebuke did Isaiah administer to his people for invoking the aid of Egypt! And he did it too in opposition to the powerful party in Jerusalem who favored it. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but

they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord." Help from Ethiopia is declined, and when the embassador is already on his journey with the declinature, Isaiah tells him, "The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eventide trouble, and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us." In due time Sennacherib appears before Jerusalem with his army of two hundred thousand men. He sends a blasphemous letter to King Hezekiah: "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivcred?" Then the king went into the temple, and, spreading the documents before the Lord, prayed fervently. The answer to his prayer, as communicated by Isaiah, was: "The king of Assyria shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it." And what the prophet so confidently predicted came literally to pass. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian army.

But equally remarkable are the prophecies concerning the Chaldeans. The prophet pointed out this people as a great power, and also the Babylonian captivity, one hundred and fifty years before either event took place. Isaiah (chap. xxxix) speaks of an embassy from the Babylonian king, MerodachBaladan, to Hezekiah, who was sick. Beyond question the object of the embassy was to gain acquaintance with the wealth and power of the king of Judah, and when the king told Isaiah that he had shown the embassadors all his treasures, the prophet saw in the twinkling of an eye the evil consequences to which such a silly act would lead. Without a moment's hesitation he replied: "Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee,

which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." How very selfish was the king's rejoinder. How like the sentiment of a recent President of the United States, who saw the fearful storm in the horizon under which we are now suffering! "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken." He said, moreover, "For there shall be peace and truth in my days." As to the verification of Isaiah's utterance we need make no reference. The Babylonian captivity, with all its sorrows, was the unmistakable sequel.

When we look at these proofs of a divinely inspired prophetic mind how small appear the meager utterances which some of God's servants spoke as predictions. Sometimes they proved true; but they were vague, and where one turned out to be real prophecy a hundred have come to naught. The great Italian reformer of the fifteenth century was one of the most remarkable men of any age. Savonarola hurled his prophetic thunders at the proud House of the Medicis, and declared to Lorenzo, who had given the order to have the enthusiast punished, "You shall pay dearly for this deed, for God will punish you and yours in return for it." Lorenzo is subsequently seized with a fearful fever, and sends for Savonarola. But the preacher, drawing his prophecy from divine predictions, tells him, "A storm shall come like that which Elijah saw from the top of Carmel, and it shall shake the mountains. Some one shall come down over the Alps like Cyrus of a bygone age." A few years later, in the year 1494, Charles VIII., of France, came down with a terrible army, and for some time the whole city of Florence was in his possession. There was something of the prophetic too in Huss's dying utterance: "You have slain a goose, but after a hundred years an eagle will take my place." A century after the flames went out around the charred body of John Huss, Luther was nailing his ninety-five theses on the door of the Schlosskirche, at Wittenburgh.

But such predictions as these are unworthy the name of prophecy. True prophecy is light from God, the inspiration of the Most High. And the seer of olden time did not merely behold the future in the outline, but saw history before him in its concrete and clearly defined forms. They were thus of