io8 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1868-1870 



phecy to history will still depend on the result of the more 

 concrete processes already analysed, and can only be 

 modified in so far as the new thought lies out of relation 

 to time and circumstance altogether. 



In general, then, prophecy has two factors : the one 

 abstract and formal, viz. the grand idea of rnrrs of a 

 divine immanence in history swaying all things to a 

 perfect end, the other concrete and relative, containing 

 all conditions of time, place, and so on. The former is 

 the same for all time ; the latter must always attach itself 

 to the concrete and conditioned in the prophet s own life, 

 that is, to his own place in history. The synthesis of 

 these two factors will produce a prophecy that goes 

 directly from the concrete basis the history of the 

 prophet s age to the final solution. The events that 

 link these together may be revealed with any degree of 

 fulness, but of course in subordination to the [explicit 

 MS.l 



