backward corners of Britain. Then follow three names for traffickers
with spirits,--those who raise ghosts as did the witch of Endor, those
who have a 'familiar spirit,' and those who in any way consult the
dead. It is a grim catalogue, bearing witness to the deep-rooted
longing in men to peer into the darkness ahead, and to get some
knowledge of the purposes of the awful unseen Power who rules there.
The longing is here recognised as legitimate, while the methods are
branded as bad, and Israel is warned from them, by being pointed to the
merciful divine institution which meets the longing.

It is clear, from this glance at the context, that the 'prophet'
promised to Israel must mean the order, not the individual; and it is
interesting to note, first, the relation in which that order is
presented as standing towards all that rabble of diviners and
sorcerers, with their rubbish of charms and muttered spells. It sweeps
them off the field, because it is truly what they pretend to be. God
knows men's longings, and God will meet them so far as meeting them is
for men's good. But the characteristics of the prophet are set in
strong contrast to those of the diviners and magicians, and lift the
order high above all the filth and folly of these others. First, the
prophet is 'raised up' by God; the individual holder of the office has
his 'call' and does not 'prophesy out of his own heart.' The man who
takes this office on himself without such a call is _ipso facto_
branded as a false prophet. Then he is 'from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren,'--springing from the people, not an alien, like so many of
these wandering soothsayers, but with the national life throbbing in
his veins, and himself participant of the thoughts and emotions of his
brethren. Then he is to be 'like unto' Moses,--not in all points, but
in his receiving direct communications from God, and in his authority
as God's messenger. The crowning characteristic, 'I will put My words