THE FACT OF PREDICTION. 



It has given rise to a discussion which, if the limits of our time had 

 permitted, could easily have been prolonged to a late hour of the 

 night. We shall, no doubt, have the benefit later on of seeing his 

 remarks on that discussion when it is published in the volume of 

 our transactions. 



Professor H. Langhorne Orchard wrote : 



It is with vei'ii great regret that 1 find myself prevented from 

 being present at the reading of Mr. Urquhart's masterly paper on 



The Fact of Prediction," — a paper full of interest. Our thanks 

 are due to the learned Author for the clearness and precision with 

 which he treats a subject which has at all times had extraorclinaiy 

 fascination for the human mind. In the desire for prediction may 

 be recognized man's intuitive belief in a future, in a future which 

 concerns himself, in immortality. 



Absolute knowledge of a future event is not the attribute of any 

 creature j it is the attribute of GOD alone. This seems affirmed in 

 Isaiah xlii, where He tells us that He declares " new things " " before 

 they spring forth." In the Bible prophecies God communicates this 

 knowledge. Perhaps instances of prediction, such as those cited in 

 the early part of the paper, may be partly explained in this way, and 

 partly by coincidence and guess. There are some things which man 

 can foretell, provided always that the natures and relations of things 

 and the laws of nature remain unchanged : — e.g., the heights of the 

 tides on given days, eclipses, returns of comets, etc., etc. These con- 

 ditional predictions are really calculations. Similarly, we have logical 

 conclusions from premises supplied by experience. The difference 

 between this sort of foretelling and the Bible prophecies is obvious. 



I think the remarks, in the last paragraph of p. 71, on foreknow- 

 ledge and predestination are especially valuable. A surprising amount 

 of haze in connection with these subjects confuses many minds. 

 In the Bible prophecies predestination is combined with fore- 

 knowledge of free-will actions, and we shall concur with the able 

 Author that " a Book which has such seals leaves no doubt in any 

 candid mind as to its origin and claims." 



Author's Reply. 

 The Lecturer in reply writes : 



The interesting discussion which followed the reading of the paper 



