the same reason Miriam the sister of Moses is

called a prophetess. When preparing to chant her song of triumph, upon the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea," she took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances."

On a similar ground is the expression to be interpreted when used by St Paul in the eleventh chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians. "Every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head;" that is, every female who takes a part in the devotions of the Christian Church,-the supplications and the praises,―ought, according to the practice of eastern nations, to have her face concealed in a veil, as becoming the modesty of her sex in a mixed congregation. The term prophesy, in this instance, must be restricted to the use of psalmody, because exposition or exhortation in public was not permitted to the women, who were not allowed to speak or even to ask a question in a place of worship. Nay, the same apostle applies the title of prophet to those persons among the heathen who composed or uttered songs in praise of their gods. In his Epistle to Titus, he alludes to the people of Crete in these words, one of themselves, even a prophet of their own, has said, the Cretans were always liars." And every classical scholar is perfectly aware that in the language of pagan antiquity a poet and a prophet were synonymous appellations.

But the function of the prophet was not confined to the duty of praise and thanksgiving; it also implied the ability to expound and enforce the principles of the Mosaical Law. He was entitled to

exhort and entreat; and we accordingly find that the greater portion of the prophetical writings consist of remonstrances, rebukes, threatenings, and expostulations. In order to be a prophet, in the Hebrew sense of the expression, it was not necessary to be endowed with the power of foreseeing future events. It is true that the holy men, through whom the Almighty thought meet to reveal his intentions rela tive to the church, were usually selected from the order of persons now described. But there were several exceptions, among whom stood pre-eminent the eloquent Daniel and the pathetic Amos. To prophesy, therefore, in the later times of the Hebrew commonwealth, meant most generally the explication and enforcement of Divine truth,-an import of the term which was extended into the era of the New Testament, when the more recondite sense of the phrase was almost entirely laid aside.

In truth, it should seem that even before the days of Samuel the opinions, or rather perhaps the popular notions connected with the name and offices of a prophet, had undergone some change, and began to point to higher objects. Saul, when employed in seeking his father's asses, had journeyed so far from home that he despaired of finding his way thither; and when he was come to the land of Zuph he said to his servant, (6 come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us. And he said unto him, behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go. Then said Saul to his servant, but, behold, if we go, what

shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we? And the servant answered Saul again, and said, behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will I give to the man of God to tell us our way. (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a prophet, was beforetime called a seer.) Then said Saul to his servant, well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was."*

The description of soothsayer whom Saul and his servant had resolved to consult is very common in all lands at a certain stage of knowledge and civilization, a personage who without much reliance on divine aid could amuse the curiosity of a rustic and perplex his ignorance with an ambiguous answer. But the age of Samuel required more solid qualifications in the prophets, and hence the term seer had already given way to that of expounder or master of eloquence and wisdom. The expedient suggested by the attendant of the son of Kish was very natural, and quite consistent with his rank and habits; while the easy acquiescence which he obtained from his master denotes the simplicity of ancient times, not less than the untutored state of mind in which the future King of Israel had left his parent's dwelling. Before he mounted the throne, however, he was sent to acquire the elements of learning among the sons of the prophets; whom, in a short time, he accompanied in their pious exer

* 1 Samuel ix. 5-11.

cises in a manner so elevated as to astonish every one who had formerly known the young Benjaminite,―till then remarkable only for a mild disposition and great bodily strength.

The mental bias towards prediction, which is almost unavoidably acquired by the practice of elucidation and commentary on a dark text, soon showed itself in the Schools of the Prophets. Many of them, trusting to their own ingenuity rather than to the suggestion of the Spirit of truth, ventured to foretell the issue of events, and to delineate the future fortunes of nations, as well as of individuals. Hence the race of false prophets who brought so much obloquy upon the whole order, and not unfrequently barred against the approach of godly admonition the ears of those who were actually addressed by an inspired messenger. Nay, it appears that some of them arrogated the power of realizing the good or the evil which they were pleased to foretell; allowing the people to believe that they were possessed with demons, who enabled them not only to foresee, but to influence in no small measure the course of Providence. The impression on the mind of Ahab, in regard to Micaiah, leaves no room for doubt that the king imagined the prophet to be actuated by a malignant feeling towards him. "I hate him," he exclaimed, "for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Nor was the conviction, that this ungracious soothsayer spoke from his own wishes rather than from a divine impulse, confined to the Israelitish monarch. The messenger who was sent to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, "behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth :

let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good."*

When we consider the uncertainty which must have attended all predictions, where the wishes or feelings of the prophet could give a different expression to the purposes of God, we cannot any longer be surprised at the neglect with which such announcements were frequently treated by those to whom they were addressed. It is remarkable, too, that one prophet did not possess the gift of ascertaining the truth or sincerity of another who might declare that he spoke in the name of God; and hence there were no means of determining the good faith of this order of men, except the general evidence of a pious character, or the test of a successful experience. For example, when Jeremiah proclaimed the approaching fall of Jerusalem the other prophets were among the first to oppose him, saying, "thou shalt surely die: why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord that this house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?" The Princes of Judah assembled in the Temple to hear the charge repeated against this fearless minister; when again "spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and to all the people, saying, this man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears."

It is worthy of notice, too, that the prediction which gave so much offence was conditional and contingent, and that Jeremiah, accordingly, incurred the hazard of suffering the severe punishment due to a false prophet; because if the people had

" 1 Kings xxii. 8, 13.