THE GIFT OF PROPHECY. 215 



" Hurrah for the son of David ! " Then people suffer- 

 ing from diseases were brought to him, and he laid 

 his hands upon them, and told them to have faith and 

 they would be healed. 



When strangers inquired the meaning of this dis- 

 turbance, they were told that it was Joshua, or as the 

 Greek Jews called him, Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth. 

 It was believed by the common people that he was 

 the Messiah. But the Pharisees did not acknowledge 

 his mission. For Jesus belonged to Galilee, and the 

 natives of that country spoke a vile patois, and their 

 orthodoxy was in bad repute. " Out of Galilee," said 

 the Pharisees with scorn, " out of Galilee, there cometh 

 no prophet." 



All persons of imaginative minds know what it is 

 to be startled by a thought ; they know how ideas 

 flash into the mind, as if from without ; and what 

 physical excitement they can at times produce. They 

 also know what it is to be possessed by a presenti- 

 ment, a deep, overpowering conviction of things to 

 come. They know how often such presentiments are 

 true ; and also how often they are false. 



The prophet or seer is a man of strong imaginative 

 powers, which have not been calmed by education. 

 The ideas which occur to his mind often present them- 

 selves to his eyes and ears in corresponding sights and 

 sounds. As one in a dream he hears voices and sees 

 forms ; his whole mien is that of a man who is pos- 

 sessed ; his face sometimes becomes transfigured, 

 and appears to glow with light ; but usually the 

 symptoms are of a more painful kind, such as 

 foaming of the mouth, writhing of the limbs, and 

 a bubbling ebullition of the voice. He is some- 

 times seized by these violent ideas against his 



