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Objection 1: It would seem that in prophetic revelation no new
species of things are impressed on the prophet's mind, but only a new
light. For a gloss of Jerome on Amos 1:2 says that "prophets
draw comparisons from things with which they are conversant." But if
prophetic vision were effected by means of species newly impressed, the
prophet's previous experience of things would be inoperative.
Therefore no new species are impressed on the prophet's soul, but
only the prophetic light.
Objection 2: Further, according to Augustine (Gen. ad lit.
xii, 9), "it is not imaginative but intellective vision that makes
the prophet"; wherefore it is declared (Dan. 10:1) that
"there is need of understanding in a vision." Now intellective
vision, as stated in the same book (Gen. ad lit. xii, 6) is not
effected by means of images, but by the very truth of things.
Therefore it would seem that prophetic revelation is not effected by
impressing species on the soul.
Objection 3: Further, by the gift of prophecy the Holy Ghost
endows man with something that surpasses the faculty of nature. Now
man can by his natural faculties form all kinds of species of things.
Therefore it would seem that in prophetic revelation no new species of
things are impressed, but merely an intellectual light.
On the contrary, It is written (Osee 12:10): "I have
multiplied" their "visions, and I have used similitudes, by the
ministry of the prophets." Now multiplicity of visions results, not
from a diversity of intellectual light, which is common to every
prophetic vision, but from a diversity of species, whence similitudes
also result. Therefore it seems that in prophetic revelation new
species of things are impressed, and not merely an intellectual light.
I answer that, As Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii, 9),
"prophetic knowledge pertains most of all to the intellect." Now two
things have to be considered in connection with the knowledge possessed
by the human mind, namely the acceptance or representation of things,
and the judgment of the things represented. Now things are represented
to the human mind under the form of species: and according to the order
of nature, they must be represented first to the senses, secondly to
the imagination, thirdly to the passive intellect, and these are
changed by the species derived from the phantasms, which change results
from the enlightening action of the active intellect. Now in the
imagination there are the forms of sensible things not only as received
from the senses, but also transformed in various ways, either on
account of some bodily transformation (as in the case of people who are
asleep or out of their senses), or through the coordination of the
phantasms, at the command of reason, for the purpose of understanding
something. For just as the various arrangements of the letters of the
alphabet convey various ideas to the understanding, so the various
coordinations of the phantasms produce various intelligible species of
the intellect.
As to the judgment formed by the human mind, it depends on the power
of the intellectual light.
Now the gift of prophecy confers on the human mind something which
surpasses the natural faculty in both these respects, namely as to the
judgment which depends on the inflow of intellectual light, and as to
the acceptance or representation of things, which is effected by means
of certain species. Human teaching may be likened to prophetic
revelation in the second of these respects, but not in the first. For
a man represents certain things to his disciple by signs of speech, but
he cannot enlighten him inwardly as God does.
But it is the first of these two that holds the chief place in
prophecy, since judgment is the complement of knowledge. Wherefore if
certain things are divinely represented to any man by means of imaginary
likenesses, as happened to Pharaoh (Gn. 41:1-7) and to
Nabuchodonosor (Dan. 4:1-2), or even by bodily likenesses,
as happened to Balthasar (Dan. 5:5), such a man is not to be
considered a prophet, unless his mind be enlightened for the purpose of
judgment; and such an apparition is something imperfect in the genus of
prophecy. Wherefore some [Rabbi Moyses, Doct. Perplex. II,
xxxvi] have called this "prophetic ecstasy," and such is divination
by dreams. And yet a man will be a prophet, if his intellect be
enlightened merely for the purpose of judging of things seen in
imagination by others, as in the case of Joseph who interpreted
Pharaoh's dream. But, as Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii,
9), "especially is he a prophet who excels in both respects, so,"
to wit, "as to see in spirit likenesses significant of things
corporeal, and understand them by the quickness of his intellect."
Now sensible forms are divinely presented to the prophet's mind,
sometimes externally by means of the senses---thus Daniel saw the
writing on the wall (Dan. 5:25)---sometimes by means of
imaginary forms, either of exclusively Divine origin and not received
through the senses (for instance, if images of colors were imprinted
on the imagination of one blind from birth), or divinely coordinated
from those derived from the senses---thus Jeremiah saw the "boiling
caldron . . . from the face of the north" (Jer.
1:13)---or by the direct impression of intelligible species on
the mind, as in the case of those who receive infused scientific
knowledge or wisdom, such as Solomon or the apostles.
But intellectual light is divinely imprinted on the human
mind---sometimes for the purpose of judging of things seen by
others, as in the case of Joseph, quoted above, and of the apostles
whose understanding our Lord opened "that they might understand the
scriptures" (Lk. 24:45); and to this pertains the
"interpretation of speeches"---sometimes for the purpose of judging
according to Divine truth, of the things which a man apprehends in the
ordinary course of nature---sometimes for the purpose of discerning
truthfully and efficaciously what is to be done, according to Is.
63:14, "The Spirit of the Lord was their leader."
Hence it is evident that prophetic revelation is conveyed sometimes by
the mere infusion of light, sometimes by imprinting species anew, or
by a new coordination of species.
Reply to Objection 1: As stated above, sometimes in prophetic
revelation imaginary species previously derived from the senses are
divinely coordinated so as to accord with the truth to be revealed, and
then previous experience is operative in the production of the images,
but not when they are impressed on the mind wholly from without.
Reply to Objection 2: Intellectual vision is not effected by means
of bodily and individual images, but by an intelligible image. Hence
Augustine says (De Trin. ix, 11) that "the soul possesses a
certain likeness of the species known to it." Sometimes this
intelligible image is, in prophetic revelation, imprinted immediately
by God, sometimes it results from pictures in the imagination, by the
aid of the prophetic light, since a deeper truth is gathered from these
pictures in the imagination by means of the enlightenment of the higher
light.
Reply to Objection 3: It is true that man is able by his natural
powers to form all kinds of pictures in the imagination, by simply
considering these pictures, but not so that they be directed to the
representation of intelligible truths that surpass his intellect, since
for this purpose he needs the assistance of a supernatural light.
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