Ebook A Treasury of Illustration

It does not follow that mere seeing of visions is the proof of a true poet, or that every utterer of views is a true prophet. Scripture itself mentions more false prophets than true ones, and tells us more than once of false prophets who were sincere. The great prophets of Judah were thinkers and statesmen as well as seers. And the prophets of every age have stood upon facts, while they discerned principles; have recognized their immediate surroundings, while they scanned far horizons. To the test of this conception, thus incompletely and imperfectly stated, let us bring the genius of Henry Ward Beecher.