76 



EEV. JOHN URQUHART, ON 



theme, are, as we have been told by St. Peter, " not of any private 

 interpretation." They are concerned with God's great purposes for 

 mankind in general, with the person and work of Our Lord, and 

 with the scheme of redemption. They stand therefore on an alto- 

 gether different plane from the prediction of happenings to individual 

 men. As a scientific man, I am inclined to think that such cases of 

 successful fortune-telling require far more cogent evidence to support 

 them than is usually forthcoming ; as a rule, when critically inquired 

 into, they resolve themselves into mist ; and where they seem well 

 authenticated, I am disposed to think that in many cases they can 

 be explained by some slight confusion of consciousness in the person 

 experiencing them. 



Mr. Graham, on the question of what degree of knowledge the 

 prophets had of the extent or reach of their predictions, called 

 attention to the apostolic statement on the subject (i Peter i, 12), 

 and quoted the prophecy of Isaiah, " Behold, a Virgin shall 

 conceive," etc., given and fulfilled as a sign to Ahaz ; applied by 

 St. Matthew to the birth of the Saviour ; and thus proving an 

 important prophetic testimony to the truth of the Incarnation. This 

 and other instances given in the Gospels indicated the infinite mind 

 that inspired the prophecies. It was what Bacon called the 

 "germinative quality" of prophecy, by which must be understood 

 successive fulfilments of the same word in the development of the 

 purpose of God. If this suggestion were taken up and followed 

 out, it would dispose of attempts to fix a limit of time for the 

 .^application of the inspired word. 



Mr. C. S. Campbell said : In continuation of the point raised by 

 the last speaker, I may be allowed perhaps to say a few words. He 

 alluded to the double fulfilment of prophecy. And I do not 

 suppose we should find it hard to exemplify such from the Bible 

 or experience. A mere physical fulfilment, to the eye, may be ' 

 followed by a more distant fulfilment, appealing to the spirit ; or we 

 might say, more esoteric. In this connection I had already noted, in 

 passing, the allusion of the writer of tlie paper to " twofoldness in 

 prediction" (5 lines from the end). If I am at all right in the 

 connection, the writer might perhaps see fit to reconsider his 

 wording ; or make his position clearer. 



The Chairman, in closing the discussion, said : I am sure we 

 shall all unite in a hearty vote of thanks to the writer of the paper. 



