"To another is given the gift of prophecy by the same spirit."

Unquestionably among the Hebrews the word phrophecy was used as well to indicate inspirational speaking and teaching as the foretelling of events. It is only lately that the word prophecy has been used exclusively with reference to predicting, foreseeing or foreshadowing the future. The whole incpi-ration of the Bible, or any other indication of spirit power in the form of teaching, verbal utterance or through recorded word, would, under the general term be considered prophecy . the pouring out of the spirit upon man.

The distinct gift, however, of foretelling events, or of knowing that which seems to be veiled in the future, is of course a gift of the spirit; it must have its source in the very fountain of being.

Material existence is not only unprophetic, but it bears, without the aid of man's intelligence, no records of the past. Matter devoid of spirit is as unconscious of the future and past as it is possible for the conception of the mind to perceive. Matter lives alone in the present. Matter is of the present; it has no past, because it has no memory, no intelligence; it has no future, because it has no hope; it cannot aspire, it only does that which is done to it; it acts as it is acted upon; and therefore, while with intelligence you may predict the bloom of the flower from the sowing of the seed, or the gathering of the harvest from the planting of the grain, yet matter itself is incapable of expressing aught that shall indicate futurity or reminiscence, memory or hope.

In other words, all there is of the present is material. What exists as prophecy and memory abide in the spirit. This will explain why matter so carefully veils from ordinary life not only all spiritual reminiscence, but also all prophecy. This is why mankind go on in the dull treadmill of daily cave without hope, without promise, unless the moral nature be quickened and the spiritual aspirations awakened. This is why he who seeks for the immortal through the senses alone, can never be sure to-morrow that he has not been deceived to-day, for the senses will not register in his memory that which you require for evidence in the senses. As you must eat to-morrow because you will then be hungry; as your bodies must be clothed anew with every succeeding season; so the physical must be continually supplied with evidence, and the senses must be continually in activity, not to become lethargic and devoid of the capacity of use. Therefore spiritual testimony cannot come through the senses of man.

Record this as a fact, that neither in the olden time through "signs and wonders" alone did men believe, nor does it to-day form the ground-work of belief, that the senses are satisfied. They will be dissatisfied to-morrow, and another day they will requre another evidence. But once give to the mind a single proof and you have the prophecy for eternity. It is the mind of man alone that is capable of judging of evidence, and in this is the origin of prophecy.

It is no more difficult to conceive prophecy as one of the attributes of the spirit, primarily, than to conceive sensation as an attribute of matter. The eyes, the organ of hearing, the sense of touch, all are constructed with reference to physical adaptation. And he who does not know the science of optics nevertheless knows that without eyes he cannot see. That sort of preconciousness which exists in the spirit is one of the spiritual attributes.

That some men and women are born in the material life with the gift of prophecy, is sure evidence that somewhere in the realm of spirit all shall possess that gift. In other words, there is no future to the ultimate soul.

That which measures time as past, present and future must be the attribute of matter; that which you call fore-knowledge in the material sense is merely knowledge in the spirit; that which you think requires to-morrow, next year, and a thousand years from now for its fulfillment, is already a reality in the kingdom of the spirit. It is not looking forward when there is only an absolute point to view things from; and the spirit governed by material laws may well consider it strange that one should be able to tell with certainty what will occur another year, ten years, a hundred years from to-day.

But, if in the realm of spirit there is no year, there is no hundred years, but all is now, and that which is to occur already exists, (and of course if it exists in spirit it is more a reality than the material expression,) then it simply is perception, not prophecy; not in the sense of time, but it is prophecy in the sense of spiritual perception.

For instance, you have a son, and to-morrow or next week you intend to send him to college. You have made;ill the preparation, you know what your plans are, and so far as you are concerned, it is an actual fact. You communicate this fact to some friend, and that friend says to the son, "I know what your father intends to do." He predicts with the certainty of the information derived from you; and if the son had no means of knowing that you had held conversation with his father upon the subject, surely that would be prophecy.

Whosoever knows all things must be the one that designs all things. Though men's finite plans very often do succeed, in the infinite plan there can be no failure. The only difficulty with the finite plan is, that it is not always arranged with reference to the infinite; therefore may fail.

But the infinite plan cannot fail; and that life or intelligence brought into contact with the absolute universe must know all things that pertain to that absolute realm, as far as its existence is concerned.

In that sense, then, spirits, angels and messengers prophecy. In that sense human beings are endowed with the gift of prophecy through spiritual perception, or the awakening of that faculty in the spirit that perceives all things without reference to time.