REV. A. H. T. CLARKE, M.A., ON THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 89 



an analogous miracle is performed when the Bible is translated into 

 languages that do not contain words to express many of its mean- 

 ings, and it is understood by races that had no such ideas before. 

 May we not carry the analogy further 1 Prophecy is God speaking- 

 through men to men, but His thoughts are higher than our 

 thoughts. Necessarily, therefore, prophecy must always present 

 difficulties to us : it calls for the exertion of spiritual intelligence on 

 the part of the recipient ; we have to learn a language which is" 

 foreign to us, conveying ideas which have had no previous part in 

 us. Then at our last Meeting we had brought before us the unity 

 of the spirit of prophecy from beginning to end of the book of 

 Isaiah brought out in a wonderful fashion, and it was shown how 

 God had revealed His purpose with mankind so many genera- 

 tions ago. 



Mr. Graham supported the view of the Lecturer that God 

 revealed through the prophet — not to the prophet — that which con- 

 cerned His will in times to come. In its germinative nature 

 prophecy was capable of various fulfilments. But the key to all was 

 the knowledge of the intention of God to reveal Himself to the 

 creature He made for the purpose by the incarnation of His only 

 begotten Son. That purpose was apart from redemption, but as 

 redemption had been made necessary by Adam's fall, so God's 

 purpose was wrought out in it. Hence all prophecy must point to 

 Jesus Christ, and will eventually find its full accomplishment at His 

 coming again. 



Mr. Sidney Collett said: The Lecturer first told us that we 

 were entirely dependent upon German theologians for a right 

 understanding of the prophecies of the Bible. 



It is very difficult to comprehend how such a statement could be 

 made, in view of the fact that it was that very German theology, 

 which was probably more responsible than anything else for the 

 lack of faith and materialism which was blighting our land to-day. 



No, the truth is, we are not dependent upon any human 

 teachers in such matters. The Divine Author of the prophecies is 

 also our Divine Teacher, see I John ii, 27 : "The anointing which 

 ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man 

 teach you." 



Then, I could not agree with the Lecturer's remark that : " the 

 writers of the Bible had more than their ordinary share of human 



