ABSTRACT
The proof of human need for the messengers of God moves along two lines. The first, already noted, takes its departure from belief in the survival of the human soul after death and in the fact of another life after this one here below, with blessings to enjoy and painful punishments to suffer. These alternatives depend eternally on deeds done in this fleeting life on earth, whether those deeds are matters of the heart, such as beliefs, purposes and choices, or of the body like forms of worship and the behaviour of man to man. The second line of evidence for man’s need of the prophetic mission is deduced from human nature itself. Kings and subjects, princes and paupers, learned and ignorant, the élite and the rest—all alike are equal in status before the message of the prophets. To submit to them is more like a necessity than a studious option of will.
