The Prophet

“ The prophet is one of those royal beings who are kings by right Divine, aye and human too, for all fall down instinctively before him. It is the verdict of history that all that is most blessed we owe to the prophets—not to the priests—to Moses, Confucius, Chrishna, Buddha, Socrates, Zoroaster and Christ. ”

“ In the Books of the Prophets, before the captivity, the angel is not lost sight of; but the Word of God who comes to the Prophet, more and more gathers up all powers and ministries into Himself, while the human teacher to whom he speaks is himself treated as a messenger of the Most High,—as no less His angel than any creature who has not the weeds of mortality. ”

“ Besides, the prophet trusted also to God’s knowledge, for he is all knowledge, and the knowledge of him is the theme of prayers to his being without letters and sound, and not by reason: he himself is his own ornament; he himself is his eloquence. ”

“ And the fires on Pagan altars were extinguished every where.
XV.
Mid the sounds of salutation, mid the splendor and the balm,
Knelt the sacred child, proclaiming, with a brow of heavenly calm :
" God is God; there is none other; I his chosen Prophet am!" ”

“ If God has really employed him, he has doubtless authorized him to perform miracles, that he may be known and received as a prophet. If he is really a prophet, ask of him to cause the sun to stand still—the moon to alter its course—the rivers to cease to flow—or the dead to rise from their graves. ”

“ They inspire peaceful doctrines, or prompt to deeds of darkness and cruelty, according as the Prophet does, or does not, unify their several inspirations. The true Prophet is he to whose head both birds come. ”

“ The prophet now proceeds to describe the God whom both His works and word proclaim. The participles which follow are predicates of the subject, which filled the consciousness of the prophet as well as that of every believer. “He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants resemble grasshoppers; who has spread out the heavens like gauze, and stretched them out like a tent-roof to dwell in.” ”

“ And they that believe that which a prophet relates unto them in the name of God, take the word of the prophet, do honour to him, and in him trust, and believe, touching the truth of what he relateth, whether he be a true, or a false prophet. ”

“ After instructing the prophet as to the meaning of the preceding vision, the Interpreting Angel had again with drawn for awhile, and the prophet was left to himself to meditate on the solemn significance of the Flying Roll. ”

“ When the Prophet shall have spoken in the name of the Lord, that which shall not come to passe, that's the word which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet has spoken it out of the pride of his own heart, fear him not. ”

“ Therein lies the proof of Prophethood because the mission of a Prophet is education of the human race such as this Personage accomplished, proving Him to be a mighty Prophet among the Prophets and His Book the very Book of God. ”

“ It seems right that a Prophet should belong to the people he has come to teach. All the prophets of the world have essentially belonged to their own times. If you had sat upon the Throne all day and communed with your Soul, I should have been very much afraid of you ”

“ Hence the prophet is called a man inspired by God, for it is the Divine Spirit that pervades, agitates, and directs him; it is the Divine Spirit that found in him an instrument for its operation, an organ for its manifestation, a medium to carry out its high designs, a representative of God on earth, who shall recall men to their Divine origin, and lead them on to their ultimate destination. ”

“ His standing upon his watch intimates his patience, his constancy and resolution; he will wait the time, and weather the point, as a watchman does, but he will have an answer; he will know what God will say to him, not only for his own satisfaction, but to enable him as a prophet to give satisfaction to others, and answer their exceptions, when he is reproved or argued with. Herein the prophet is an example to us. ”

“ The above mentioned prophetic saying was instructed to the companions of the Prophet who had seen the Prophet with their physical eyes, and when so ever they saw the Prophet in a dream, they saw the true image of the Prophet. One, who has not seen the Prophet before, can not distinguish the Prophet in a dream. ”

“ The word of the prophet is the Soonna, that is, the collection of his orations and oral commands, which, no less than in the written Koran, by vivid fancy, energy of will, power of language, and knowledge of mankind, manifest the genius of the great poet and legislator. ”

“ The Prophet, whose spiritual eye is just falling upon the large, the enormously large number of unbelievers, overlooks, at the moment, the other aspect, and, in his grief, expresses that which took place in a large portion only, in such a manner as if it were general. ”

“ Prophet or a Revelation is not more than what we find in the case of Mohammad. [132]
The general office and main business of a prophet is to proclaim to mankind the Divine Perfection, to teach publicly purer theology and higher morality, to enjoin the people to do what is right and just, and to forbid what is wrong and bad. It is neither a part of the prophet to predict future events, nor to show supernatural miracles. And further, a prophet is neither immaculate nor infallible. The Revelation is a natural product of human faculties. ”

“ Here the prophet teaches that he who possesses within him a constant well of spiritual happiness from confidence in God will manifest it in godly deeds, and thus will become the possessor of the greatest good in God’s universe—a holy character. ”

“ He comes to the prophet, who, he expects, will be civil to him, but God will give him his answer, by punishing him for his impudence: I the Lord, who speak and it is done, I will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols. Observe, Those who set up idols in their hearts, and set their hearts upon their idols, commonly have a multitude of them. ”

“ Is not every holy and wise book, every holy and wise preacher and writer, a prophet, expounding to us God’s laws, foretelling to us God’s opinions of our deeds, both good and evil? Ay, is not every man a prophet to himself? ”

“ Such being the case, the prophets are perfect in prophecy, the righteous in righteousness, and the martyrs in confession, and others in preaching, not that they are not sharers in the common virtues, but are proficient in those to which they are appointed. For what man in his senses would say that a prophet was not righteous? For what? did not righteous men like Abraham prophesy? ”

“ As the whole of this chapter is taken up with the illustration of a doctrine nearly connected with the comfort of man, and the honor of the Divine government, the prophet, with great propriety, lays aside his usual mode of figure and allegory, and treats his subject with the utmost plainness and perspicuity. ”

“ Every faithful message delivered by a prophet increases that prophet's own blessedness, and has joys in the receiving of it from God, in the speaking of it to men, in the marking of its effects as it spreads through the world, which belong to him alone. ”

“ The prophet may be considered as addressing the teachers of the Gospel, to show them that it was their business to encourage and direct the people in their expectation of redemption.
3. A promise of the manifestation of God among men is given. ”

“ Scripture alone contains what remains to us of our Lord's teaching. If there be a portion of revelation sacred beyond other portions, distinct and remote in its nature from the rest, it must be the words and works of the eternal Son Incarnate. He is the one Prophet of the Church, as he is our one Priest and King. ”

“ Indeed the Prophet taught men to believe all that God has revealed, all that he at present reveals, and also said that the Lord would reveal many great and important things in the future pertaining to the kingdom of God. ”

“ The prophet looks through all this outward display to the void within, he draws no subtle distinction between the symbol and the thing symbolized; he accepts the popular confusion of the god with his image, and identifies all the deities of the heathen with the materials out of which their statues are made by the hands of men. And he is justified in doing this, because there can be but one god in his sense of the word; a multitude of gods is a contradiction in terms. From this point of view, he exposes the absurdity of the splendid idolatry which his captive countrymen see all around them. ”

“ This prophet therefore, far from occupying a lower place among divinely inspired men, deserves to be placed in the front rank with all those who have been most distinguished among the men who have partaken most largely of the prophetic gift. ”

“ These he executes in the church, and in the hearts of all believers. He enlightens us as a Prophet, he intercedes as a Priest, and he reigns as a King. He teaches the way to heaven as a Prophet, he opens the way as a Priest, and he brings into the way as a King. He preached glad tidings to the meek as a Prophet, he binds up the broken-hearted as a Priest, and he opens the prison doors as a king. These glorious offices he exercises in the souls of his children, and viwing him faithful in his house, he is truly lovely to his church. ”

“ It is also the path followed by the prophets.
—The heart of man while in the spiritual world knows its Maker and Creator: it had mingled with the angels and knows for what service it was created.
—To whomsoever this revelation has been vouchsafed, if it directs him to reform the world, to invite the nations to turn to God, and to a peculiar way of life, that person is called a prophet, and his way of life is called a law; and that influence which proceeds from him, which transcends what is ordinary, is called a miracle. ”

“ When the prophet proceeded with the deliverance of his message to the world, he departed from this view as to the essential baseness of the nature of man, and proceeded to proclaim him to be a son of God, not only through some means of adoption, but by the very nature of him. ”

“ Prophets Foreordained.—A prophet's name, his place of birth, and the character of his everyday calling, are matters of little moment compared with other things pertaining to him. What of his state and standing before he came on earth? This is a far more important consideration. God's prophets are chosen before they are born, [6] and are sent into the world as He needs them. Their aims are high and holy. They desire the welfare and happiness of the race. Yet almost invariably their motives are misunderstood, and they and their followers are opposed and persecuted. ”

“ We may not strive with our Maker, but we may reason with him. The prophet lays down a truth of unquestionable certainty, which he resolves to abide by in managing this argument: Righteous art thou, O Lord! when I plead with thee. Thus he arms himself against the temptation wherewith he was assaulted, to envy the prosperity of the wicked, before he entered into a parley with it. ”

“ Every prophet who, in human weakness, performed his office, was a guarantee of the future appearance of the Prophet, as surely as God never does by halves what, according to His nature, and as proved by the existence of the imperfect, He must do. ”

“ He is a Prophet and a Teacher, "the light of the Gentiles," all judgment is committed unto Him, and He will sit on the throne of His glory. He will raise again to life all the righteous who have died. ”

“ God when he makes the prophet does not unmake the man. ”

“ If we wish to discover whether any one of these great Souls or Messengers was in reality a Prophet of God, we must investigate the facts surrounding His life and history, and the first point of our investigation will be the education He bestowed upon mankind. If He has been an Educator, if He has really trained a nation or people, causing it to rise from the lowest depths of ignorance to the highest station of knowledge, then we are sure that He was a Prophet. ”

“ Of him therefore, no doubt, the prophet here speaks of him and of no other man. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, with reference both to his humiliation and his exaltation ”

“ A man clothed in delicate clothing? 9But what did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10For this is he about whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'"
11"Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater one than John the Baptist. ”