p. 62, 63.

[183] Pausan. lib. vii. p. 141.

[184] Homer, Iliad, xii. 2, 235.

[185] Herodot. lib. ii. c. 52, 55.

[186] Exod. xxv. 22.

[187] Deut. xviii. 13.

[188] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16, &c.

[189] 1 Sam. xiv. 24.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE
PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD.

Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people as
the Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious,
and supernatural means which he had procured them for discovering
future events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of the
high-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophets
and seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magical
secrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said to
them:[190] "If there should arise among you a prophet, or any one who
boasts of having had a dream, and he foretells a wonder, or anything
which surpasses the ordinary power of man, and what he predicts shall
happen; and after that he shall say unto you, Come, let us go and
serve the strange gods, which you have not known; you shall not
hearken unto him, because the Lord your God will prove you, to see
whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your
soul."

Certainly, nothing is more likely to mislead us than to see what has
been foretold by any one come to pass.

"Show the things that are to come," says Isaiah,[191] "that we may
know that ye are gods. Let them come, let them foretell what is to
happen, and what has been done of old, and we will believe in them,"
&c. _Idoneum testimonium divinationis_, says Turtullian,[192] _veritas
divinationis_. And St. Jerome,[193] _Confitentur magi, confitentur
arioli, et omnis scientia saecularis litteraturae, praeescientiam
futurorum non esse hominum, sed Dei_.

Nevertheless, we have just seen that Moses acknowledges that false
prophets can predict things which will happen. And the Saviour warns
us in the Gospel that at the end of the world several false prophets
will arise, who will seduce many[194]--"They shall shew great signs
and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive
even the elect." It is not, then, precisely either the successful
issue of the event which decides in favor of the false prophet--nor
the default of the predictions made by true prophets which proves that
they are not sent by God.

Jonah was sent to foretell the destruction