These prophets were the conscience of their nation, its guides in the hour of peril, and the heralds of those great ethical and social principles which are the eternal foundations of law and society. The social evils with which they dealt were in many ways startlingly similar to those which still survive in our modern Christian civilization. Interpreted into the language of the twentieth century, their messages anticipate the conclusions and teachings of our keenest and most progressive social teachers. In pointing out popular errors in the existing social system, and in placing the responsibility for the prevailing evils squarely on the shoulders of the rich and powerful, who were using their authority and influence, not in behalf of the common welfare, but rather for their own personal advantage or for that of their class, they spoke to the present as well as to their own age. In their character and life-work, as well as in their words, they embodied the noblest ideals of intelligent, unselfish and effective patriotism. They were men who not only saw the truth but were equally able and effective in proclaiming it by word and deed. When once their aims and real character are understood, these peerless patriots of ancient Israel will inspire anew the live men and women of today, to devote themselves patiently, unselfishly, and persistently to eliminating the civic and social evils which disgrace our modern civilization, and to realizing in city and state the eternal ideals of justice and common service.
The Hebrew prophets did not work for a new social order, but they did demand that each individual and each class should contribute their part to the common good. They also closely blended religion and ethics, and declared that a faith which did not find expression in justice and mercy was mere hypocrisy. Thus they both ethicized and socialized religion, adjusting it squarely to the universal needs of society and the individual.
In the experience of the prophets and of their nation during these trying years, it is also possible to trace more clearly than in any other period of human history the process by which the Divine Father revealed and still reveals his character and will to men. That revelation was neither abstract nor mechanical, but rather a gradual opening of the mental and spiritual vision of certain men who were ready to learn and to act. They correspond in the realm of morals and religion to the world's great scientists and inventors. The Hebrew prophets were men who, like the shepherd Amos, had been taught by occupation and experience to be ever on the watch, to interpret each significant sign, to see facts as they were; and then, when conviction deepened into certainty, to act courageously yet tactfully, and with a supreme unconcern for their personal interests. To such men God revealed his laws and purposes, sometimes through the great crises which overtook their nation, sometimes through the personal experience of the men who were thus called to be prophets the spokesmen and interpreters of Jehovah to his race.
