J. F. Campbell Collection > Prophecies of the Brahan seer (Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche)

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BRAHAN SEER. 3
would-be-scientific lights, whenever it treats of any-
thing beyond the puny comprehension of the minds and
intellectual vision of these omniscient gentlemen. We
have all grown so scientific that the mere idea of sup-
posing anything possible which is beyond the intellec-
tual grasp of the scientific enquirer cannot be enter-
tained, although even he must admit, that in many
cases, the greatest men in science, and the mightiest
intellects, find it impossible to understand or explain
away many things as to the existence of which they
have no possible doubt. We even find the clergy
slightly inconsistent in questions of this kind. They
solemnly desire to impress us with the fact that minis-
tering spirits hover about the couches and apartments
in which the dying Christian is drawing near the close
of his existence, and preparing to throw off his mortal
coil ; but were we to suggest the possibility of any mere
human being, in any conceivable manner having had
indications of the presence of these ghostly visitors, or
discovering any signs or premonitions of the early de-
parture of a relative or of an intimate friend, our hea-
then ideas and devious wanderings from the safe clian-
nel of clerical orthodoxy and consistent inconsistency,
would be howled against, and paraded before the faith-
ful as the grossest superstition, with an enthusiasm and
relish possible only to a strait-laced ecclesiastic. Cleri-
cal inconsistency is, however, not our pi-esent theme.
Many able men have written on the Second-sight,
and to some of them we shall refer in the following
pages ; meanwhile, our purpose is to place before the
reader the Prophecies of the Brahan Seer, as far as we
have been able to procure them. We are informed that