(3.) From the above two criteria of a true prophet flows the third, that his addn sst s must be in strict ac- cordance with tin law. Whoever departs from it cannot be a true prophet, for it is impossible that the Lord should contradict himself.
(4.) In the above is also founded the fourth criterion, that a inn prophet must not promise prosperity without rept ntance; and that he is a false prophet, "of the deceit of his own heart," who does not reprove the sins of the people, and who does not inculcate on them the doc- trio, is of divine justice and retribution.
2. In addition to these negative criteria there w^n positive ones to procure' authority to true prophets. First of all, it must he assumed that the prophets them- selves received, along with the divine revelations, assur- ance that these were really divine. Any true commun- ion witli the Holy Spirit affords the assurance of its divine nature, and the prophets could, therefore, satisfy themselves of their divine mission. There was nothing to mislead and delude them in this respect, for temporal goods were not. bestowed upon them with the gift of prophesying. Their own native disposition was often much averse to this calling, and could he only conquered by the Lord forcibly impelling them, as appears from Jet XX,8, 9: "Since 1 spake, the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me. and a derision daily. Then
I Baid, 1 will not make meuti I him, nor speak any
more in his name, hut his word was in mine heart as a burning tire shut up in my hones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.'" Now. when i he prophets themselves were convinced of their divine mission, they could iii various ways prove it to others whom they were called on to enlighten.
i 1. I To those who had any Sense of truth, the Spirit
of God gave evidence that the prophecies were divinely i. This testimonium Spiri/us Sancti is the chief argument for the reality of a divine revelation ; and he who is susceptible of it docs not. indeed, disregard the other proofs suiting the wants of unimproved minds,
inn laj a Less Btress on them.
i-'.i I he prophets themselves utter their firm con- viction that they act and speak by divine authority, not of their own accord (comp. the open recurring phrase ■vn- DK5,"a prophec) of Jehovah," Jer. xxvi, 12, etc.). Their pious lite bore testimony to their being worthy
of a nearer communion with God, and defended them
from the suspicion of intentional deception ; their sobri-
ety of mind distinguished them from all fanatics, and defended them from the suspicion of self-delusion ; their fortitude in suffering for truth proved that they had their commission from no human authority.
(3.) Part of the predictions of the prophets referred to proximate events, and their accomplishment was divine evidence of their divine origin. Whoever had been once favored with such a testimonial, his authority was established for his whole life, as instanced in Samuel. Of him it is said | I Sam. iii. 19): "The Lord was with him. and let none of his words fall to the ground < i. e. fulfilled them i; and all Israel knew (from this) that Samuel was established to he a prophet of the Lord." < tfthe divine mission ol Isaiah no doubt could be enter- tained alter, for instance, his prophecies of the over- throw of Sennacherib before Jerusalem had been lid- tilled. The credential- ol the divine mission of K/.ekiel were certified when his prediction was accomplished, that Zedekiafa should be brought to Babylon, hut should not see it, for the king was made prisoner and blinded (Ezek. xii, 12, 13); they were further confirmed by the fulfilment of his prediction concerning the destruction of the city (cb. xxiv). Jeremiah's claims were authen- ticated by the fulfilment ol his prediction that Shallum, the s,,n of Josiah, king of Judah, should die in his pris- on, and see his native country no more (.Jer. xxii. 11, 12).
(4.) Sometimes the divine mission of the prophets was also proved by miracles; hut this occurred only at important crises, when the existence of the kingdom of Israel was in jeopardy, as in the age of Elijah and Eli- sha. Miracles arc mentioned as criteria of true proph- ets (Dent. xiii. 2). still with this caution, that they
should not he trusted ah Imt that the people should
inquire whether the negative criteria were extant.
(.").) Those prophets whose divine commission had been sufficiently proved bore testimony to the divine mission of others. It has been observed above that there was a certain gradation among the prophets; the principals of the colleges of prophets procured authority to the "sons" of prophets. Thus the deeds of Elijah ami Elisha at the same time authenticated the hun- dreds of prophets whose superiors they were. Concern- ing tin' relation of the true prophets to each other, the passage 2 Kings ii. '.i is remarkable; Elisha says to Eli- jah,"] pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit he upon inc." Here Elisha, as the first-born of Elijah in a spiritual sense, and standing to him in the same rela- tion as Joshua to Moses, asks for a double portion of Ids spiritual inheritance, alluding to the law concerning the hereditary right of the lawfully begotten first-born son (Dent. xxi. 17k This case supposes that other proph- ets also of the kingdom of Israel took portions of the fulness of the spirit of Elijah. It is plain, then, that only a tew prophets stood iii immediate communion with (iod. while that of the remaining was formed by medi- ation. The latter were spirit ually incorporated in the former, and. on the ground of this relation, actions per- formed by Elisha, or through the instrumentality of