Whether, in Prophetic Revelation, New Species of Things Are Impressed
on the Prophet's Mind, or Merely a New Light?
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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 (Gen. 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" (Luke 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 Isa. 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 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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