Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-10-28

Sermon BY Rev. las. S. Williamson. Oct. Is.
1896.

ancc III and out of the Churcn relative
to prophecy and to the prophetic spirit.
There assembled some time during last
summer in the largest city of our State
d so-calied prophetic convention. Ii the
newspaper accounts of the proceedings
are correct, the prophets of the Old and of
the New Testament would have hooted
at the whole affair. The ignorance
of Biblical study in a rational. scien-
tific and common-sense way, the gro
tesque use of an Anticipated, allegori-
cal method of Interpretation. the super
sensitive use of the imagination, coupled
with the most dense blindness to the
conditions and spirit of the modern
world constitute an insult to the church
Of God and a SANDER on the intelli-
gence of man. Such advocates of reve-
lation are doing more to make and to
advertise characters like Ingersoll than
all other influences combined. 1t is not
the forces outside so much as the
enemies of the church
Now in the words of our text amos
brings US before fact which is broad
er than many will at first sight be will
ing to allow.
The Hebrew word used for prophet.
nab. literally is 'tolboil forth as Il
spring" carried OVID to the impas-
stoned uttcrance of those who speak fer
God, the one who announces the will OF
God to men.
This is the first and important func-
ton of a prophet. Prediction of the
future is only limited and accidental
portion of his work. His principal and
primary business is to declare the will
and character of God to his own gen
GRAFTON. His message is never out of
touch with the events in which he lives
and of which he is a part. He has sim
ply come under the overwhelming con-
victionS of Gods. presence and God $
character and their application to the
life of man, so that between the call
of the best interests of suffering hui
mainly and his consciousness of the
presence of God he has no choice. h q
must speak. Woe unto me if preach
not the gospel is the cry of Paul, and
Woe unto me" is the cry of all the
true prophets of past generations, IF
l declare not to man what have seen
and known of God"
Now as thus defined, prophecy is as
univ CT sal siS Tic ItllS lOuS Hdlutc u
man, and has it's place In all religious
systems, pagan as well as Hebrew and
Christian. Prophecy has passed through
stages of growth which place the ap-
preparation of the truth relative to the
soul on the same leyel and agreea BILE
TO the same law of development which
characterizes the unfolding of the mind
of God in other departments of life
TIE discovery of the truth of either is
rs much the discovery of the mind and
thought of God as the religious aspect
Of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah.
Wherever you discover truth. you are
discovering God, and the only com
mand is that you use without bias and
without prejudice the faculties of the
soul by which you discern it.
In Judaism there are what may be
Gated three stages in the development
Of prophecy You can all find it out
for yourselves. You have only to take
Eour concordance.-a good one.-say
XCung'S Analytical Concordance. for
instance. and go over the word pre-
Dhet.' 1t will be little work, but
there is nothing for nothing in the re-
ligious world any more than in the com
.nercial world, unless you steal. and
then you have to pay the penalty there
rs in the commercial world. First of
ali is the spirit of divination." AT this
siege the prophetic spirit is simply
i.sed for the detection of criminals. the
discovery of lost property, the settle
lnent of law suits, the inquiry as to the
proper time to SOW the crop. when to
80 to war and what tactics to pursue.
Then. in the life of Moses, you will find
ne is perfectly at home when he meets
the magicians of Egypt. He has this
power over the physical and mental
life of men which the magicians Of
Egypt exercised, and you fine Joshua,
who succeeded him, casting lots to dis
co yer criminals. We find that Moses
has a keener perception of moral truth
than we find among the prophets Of
any of the other branches of the Semi
tic race. at this stage Of prophecy.
The second period began with Samuel,
with the school of prophets. You hear
people talk today about theological
.chools being schools of the prophets. Lee
lis hope they are on a little higher level
than the schools of prophets in Samuels
day. schools of men formed to study
and to think over the ethical aspect of
their limited vision of truth, based
probably on the Decalogue as given By
Hoses, and whose principal work was
to combat the abuse of divination.
Divinatio had become a barrier to
the religious progress of Israel equiva-
lent to the abuse of indulgences in the
period of the Reformation, to the pro-
gress of Christian truth and of the
Christian church, and the principal worl,
of the school of prophets under Samuel
was to combat the sort of divination
where a man inquired of one who had
the second sight and a keen percep-
ton of coming events.
Who set up a monopoly for his own
life of the prophetic spirit? Saul, you
the first king of Israel, goes
into a trance which lasted day and IL
night in the school of prophets. Those
men who entered frances, just the
same as you can find men today in
Mohammeden lands. This is the sec
end stage The third stage is the high
water mark of prophecy, when under
the divine spirit the prophet speaks to
all walks of life. The king. the false
the commercial prince, the
statesman, the traditionalist and the
rit,,aliSt all arc the marks of the shafts