It does not seem possible to draw any ver\ pivi i-i distinction between the prophetic •■dream" and the pro- phetic " vision." In the case of Abraham (Gen. XV, 1)
and of Daniel (Dan. vii. 1 1, they seem to 1 1 hI i ii ach
other. In both the external senses are at rest, reflec- tion is quiescent, ami intuition energizes. The action of the ordinary faculties is suspended in the one case by natural, in the other by supernatural or extraordinary i I.e.. Inspiration, p. 173). The state into which the prophet was, occasionally, at least, thrown by ih. ecstasy, or vision, or trance, is described poeti- cally in the hook of Job (iv, 13 Hi: xxxiii. 15), and
more plainly in the book of Daniel, in the case of Daniel, we find tir-i a deep Bleep i viii. 18; x. 0) accom- panied by terror i \ in. 17 : \. s i. Then he i- raised np-
righl i\ iii. 18) on hi- baud- and knee-, and then on hi-
feet £,10, 11). He then receives the divine revelation (viii, 19; x, 12). After this be tall- to the ground in a swoon in. I.".. 17 i : he is Faint, Bick, and astonished (viii, 27). Here, then, is an instance of tlie ecstatic -tate: nor i- it confined to the did lest., though we do not find it in the New i, -i. accompanied by Buch vio- lent effects upon the body. At the Transfiguration, the disciples tell on their face, being overpowered by the divine glory, and were restored, like Daniel, by the touch of .Ions' hand, Peter fell into a trance Uk-rrro- nn i before he received bis vision, instructing him a- to the admission of the Gentiles (Acts x. 10; xi. &). Paul was in a trance (tv tKOTann i when he was commanded to devote bimsell to the conversion of the Gentiles (xxii, 17). and when he was caught up into the third he,i\ en i 2 Cor. xii. 1 1. John was probably in the same state {iv TrvevpaTi) when he received the message to the seven churches (Rev. i. 10). The prophetic trance. then, must be acknowledged a- a scriptural account of the state in which the prophets and other inspin d per- Bons, Bometimes, at least, received divine revelations. It would seem, in such particular cases, to have been of the following nature : (1.) The bodily scums were dosed to external objects a- in deep sleep; (2.) The reflective and discursive faculty was still and inactive; | :;. | The spiritual faculty (jrvejpa) was awakened to the highest -tale of energy. Hence it is that revelations in trances are described by the prophets a- -seen" or " heard" by them, for the spiritual faculty energizes by immediate perception <>n the pan of the inward sense, not by in- ference and thought. Thus Isaiah usau> the Lord sit- ting" (Isa. vi. I). Zechariah "lifted up hi- eyes and saw" (Zech. ii, 1) ; " the word of the Lord which Micah saw" (Mic. i, 1); "the wonder which llahnkkuk did see" (Hah. i, I). "Peter saw heaven opened . . . and there came a voice to him" (Acts x, 11). Paul was " in a trance, ami saw him saying" t xxii. L8). John " hi aid a -real voice . . . and saw seven golden candlesticks" (Rev. i, 12). Hence it is, too. that the prophets' vis- ions are unconnected ami fragmentary, inasmuch as they are not the subject of the reflective, but of the percep- tive faculty. They described what they saw and beard, not what they bad themselves thought out and system- atized. Hence, ton. succession in time is dist or unnoticed. The subjects of the vision being, to the prophets' sight, in juxtaposition or enfolding each other, some in the foreground, some in tin- background, are necessarily abstracted from the relations of time. Hence, too, the imagery with which the prophetic writings are colored, and the dramatic cast in which they are mould- ed : these peculiarities resulting, a- we have already said, in a necessary obscurity ami difficulty of interpre- tation.
But though it must be allowed that Scripture lan- guage seems to point out the Mate ot dream and of
he human di
cations, it doe- not follow that all the prophetic r< rela- tions were thus made. We nni-t acknowledge the State of trance in .-neb passages a- l-a. vi (called ordinarily the \ision of Isaiah), a- Ezek. i (called the vision of Ezekiel), as Dan. vii. viii. x. xi. xii nailed the visions ot Daniel), as Zech. i. iv, v, \i (called the visions of Zechariah i. as Acts x (called the vision of St. Peter), as 2 Cor. xii nailed the vision of St. Paul), ami similar instances, which are indicated by the Langua
lint it does not seem true to Bay, With 1 b ng-tenberg,
that •■the difference between these prophecies and the rest i- a vanishing one, ami if we but possess the power and the ability to look more deeply into them, the marks of the vision may be discerned" {Christology, iv, 117). This view is advocated also byVelthusen (De Opticd l:> i nut I'niiinii inn Descriptiom i,Jahn i Einleit.in ilii gdttlichen Biicher des I. /.'. I, Tholuck i Dit Propheten lunl ilni Weissagungen). St. Paul distinguishes "rev- elations" from " visions" (2 Cor. xii, 1). In the bonks "i Mo* - ■ Bpeaking mouth to mouth" i- contrasted with