Twenty loaves of bread, through Elisha's miraculous power, are enough to feed a hundred men," and they left thereof, according to the word of Jahve" (II K. 4: 43 ff.).

(b) Secondly, we note the wonders which the prophets themselves performed for the people to show them that what they announced comes from God, who gave them the power to perform these miracles as a proof that they are divinely commissioned. Biblical examples abound: All the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 7: 18-14: 31) were given as miracles to Pharaoh to convince him that Jahve had sent Moses to liberate the Hebrews, and that He, in whose name such miracles are performed, is a powerful God and will command obedience. When Moses appears before Pharaoh to deliver Jahve's message, he answers (Ex. 5: 2): "Who is Jahve that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jahve, neither will I let Israel go." But Jahve had prepared Moses and Aaron for this reception, and had given them the power to perform three miracles which shall prove to Pharaoh that they were sent by Jahve (Ex. 4: 1-10; 7: 14 ff.). When these miracles had not the convincing effect, Jahve sent ten more miracles, each one a powerful chastisement to show Pharaoh that the God who is taking Israel's part was in earnest in His request to have His people free. The children of Israel, too, were as hard to convince as Pharaoh. Finally after they had seen all the signs and wonders done in their behalf, "they feared Jahve, believed in Him, and in His servant, Moses" (Ex. 14:31).

Joshua, too, shows his divine commission by dividing the river for Israel as Moses had done (Josh. 3: 13 ff.). Elijah, by means of his mantle, does the same, and Elisha, his pupil, receives a double portion of his master's power when he sees Elijah ascend into heaven and catches the

mantle as it falls. Samuel, the grand figure in that turbulent period of Israel's history, convinces his people that his message was genuine by calling upon Jahve for a miracle (I Sam. 12: 17) "I shall call on Jahve, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of Jahve, in asking for a king." Even Isaiah tells Ahaz (Is. 7: 11 ff.), to request a sign that he may be assured that the prophet's words are from God.

Often the prophets performed miracles, or begged God to perform miracles, in order to convert the people to the Jahve religion, as was the case when Elijah brought down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, after the prophets of Baal had failed to do so, thus showing publicly the might of Jahve. And the people were converted, and exclaimed: "Jahve is the God; Jahve is the God."1

In general, then, the prophets do things which no ordinary man can do, something miraculous and wonderful, to show that they are God-commissioned.2

(c) Thirdly, the power to heal the sick without apparent physical means has always been indicative of divine power. This miracle is after all the one most related to human life. It may be very interesting to see the rod change into a serpent, but it is more vitally interesting to feel the pain disappear at the touch, or upon the prayer, of the prophet. That the prophets functioned as divine healers is so patent that we cannot well afford to overlook it. This healing power, perhaps more than any other, attracts the child-mind of all ages, so that even in our day we have "divine healers."

Elijah (I K. 17: 17-24) is reported to have restored

1Cf. Spencer: "Principles of Sociology," Appleton, N. Y., 1904, Vol. I, p. 251.

2 Cf. Spencer: Ib., p. 250.

a dead child to life through prayer and physical manipulation, stretching himself upon, and probably breathing into, the child. Elisha did the same for the Shunamite's dead child (II K. 4: 23 ff.). From the question of the husband in the last quotation, Smend infers that on Sabbaths and new moons it was customary for people to visit the prophets for the purpose of being healed.1 So far famed was this healing power of the prophets, that Naaman, the Syrian captain, heard of it and came to be healed of his leprosy. When Elisha heard that the King of Israel was troubled about Naaman's request of being healed, he sent word to the King saying: "Let him come to me, that he may know there is a prophet in Israel."

Similar healing miracles were expected, and are reported, of the prophets of other nations. The following from Knobel (p. 56, note 4): "Der thebanische Seher Tiresias soll (als Naturkundiger) die Stimmen der Voegel verstanden haben (Appolod., III, 6, 7), gleichwie Melampus (Appolod., I, 9, II. Plin. H. N. K., 70, XXV, 21), welcher auch als Artzt erscheint, indem er wahnsinnige Frauen heilt (Appolod., II, 2, 2). Chiron's Tochter, Oeyroe, verstand nach Ovid. (Metam., II, 635 ff.), die Arzeneikunde (artes paternas) und die Mantik (fatorum arcana canebat). Ja der Mantis Polydius soll sogar den Glaukus von den Todten auferweckt haben (Appolod., III, 3). Bei den Scythen liess der Koenig, wenn er krank geworden war, die Wahrsager herbeiholen, welche ihm Ursache und Ende der Krankheit anzeigen mussten (Herod., IV, 68). Endlich waren auch die Druiden der alten Gallier und Briten Wahrsager und Aerzte zugleich."

The New Testament fairly teems with descriptions of the healing power of Jesus2 and his disciples, so much so,

1 Smend: "Lehrbuch der Alttest. Religionsgeschichte," p. 87, Note 1. 2 Matt. 10: 8; 11: 5; 14: 35; 15: 30; Mark 16: 20; Acts 2: 43; 4: 16, 22; 5: 12; 6: 8; 8: 6; John 3: 2; 9: 16; etc.

that Christian Science, and Mental Science, Mental Therapeutics, Divine Healing, and all the rest of the mental healing processes claim Jesus as the founder of their respective schools.1

Even in our day, were we just a little less scientific, a successful practitioner in medicine would receive divine homage, and there is no denying the fact that the reason why Christian Science, as a religion, is becoming more and more popular with men and women of fair intelligence, is because of this healing power of many of its advocates. A toothache or a headache relieved is even in our age a more appreciated wonder than the moving of mountains or the dividing of the Jordan.

I remember when as a child I studied the Bible in the original Hebrew the only thing that elicited my unbounded admiration, reverence and envy was the prophet's power of performing miracles. The subtler powers of the soul, the true meaning of the prophet, was not even suspected by me. Many minds, I believe, never grow beyond the childstage in religious conceptions. As some minds carry away only a joke from a serious discourse, so others grasp only the unrelated miracle and wonder in the serious life of the prophet.

Here again is pointed out the true and the false in this conception of the prophet.

The truth is that the prophet can do wonderful things, things of which the average man is not capable. But these wonderful things are not at all the ones mentioned above, nor are those reported miracles to be taken in any sense as a serious part of the prophet's function and busiFor, if so, every one performing miracles, and

ness.

1 Hudson in the last chapters of his "Law of Psychic Phenomena " gives an excellent exposition of the whole subject of mental healing based on the suggestions of Jesus's method.

there are many such in our age as in every age, would thereby give proof of his divine commission and prophetic power, which is not true.

The fallacy in this conception is that the prophet's genuineness is based upon something wholly unrelated to the subject. The Prophet is either inspired or not; he is either God-commissioned or not; he speaks either truth or falsehood. Now, none of these facts can be established by reference to the prophet's ability to bring disorder into the physical laws of the universe. There is no causal connection, and to my mind no connection of any kind, between the two. If Dowie claims to be Elijah, sent by God to teach a certain something to the United States, and as proof should make the trees dance and the mountains skip like rams, I should still say that I was much amused to see such wonderful phenomena, but cannot find any causal connection between those miracles and his claim to Elijahship or to divine inspiration, and, therefore, should have to wait for more relevant proof.

(C)

CONCEPTION OF PROPHET AS PREDICTOR

By far the most popular conception of prophecy is that of prediction. "I am not a prophet, I cannot tell what will happen," is a remark very commonly heard. And indeed this idea is not without its basis in fact, but, like most popular ideas, it seizes upon one point of view and prejudges from that. This conception of prophet as predictor gained ascendancy, as I believe, for two reasons; firstly, because prediction was an important element in the prophetic activity, and secondly, because Christianity has laid its principal emphasis on the predictive element on account of its specific interpretation of the Messianic predictions.

"According to popular acceptation, prophecy is essen