Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 556

532

§ 84.

THE FORMS OF INSPIRATION

[Div. Ill

on fire, as Jeremiah declares that it became a fire in his bones which he could not resist. Ezekiel testifies (iii. 14), " I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me." At the close of the ecstasy the prophet felt himself worn-out and faint, and pathologically In that affected to such a degree that he said he was ill. condition he saw visions, heard speaking and saw whole dramas played and when presently he is again so far restored to himself that he can speak, the continuity of his He knows what hapconsciousness is by no means broken. pened with him, and tells what he saw and heard. By itself That which is distincthere is nothing strange in all this. not consist of these psychical phenomena. prophetic does tively with pseudo-prophets. common But these pheThese were nomena, which were commonly produced by pathological psychical conditions, or by superior powers of other persons, by the influence of mighty events, or by demoniacal influences, in prophecy tvere worked hy God that He might use ;

them

for His revelation. This dualistic character of prophecy, coupled with the repression of the human subject, prompts us to explain

prophecy as being

epical^

receives a lyrical tint.

even

if

at times this epical utterance

In the epos the ego of the singer

recedes to the background, and the powerful development of

overwhelmed, is put wholly to the An epos teaches almost nothing about the poet himfront. self. To such an extent is his personality repressed in the The second characteristic of the epos is, that the singer epos. not merely communicates what he has seen and heard, but also pushes aside the veil, and makes you see what mysterious powers from the unseen world were active back of all this, events,

by which he

is

and that the things seen are by these mysterious factors.

in reality but the effect

To

worked

this extent the epos corre-

sponds entirely to the content of prophecy, and only in the In the epos third point does the epos differ from prophecy. the poet deals merely with tradition^ subjects lifts himself above it, pouring over into the word,

mind,

it

to his

own

and exhibits his sovereign power by i.e.

in the epos^

what has happened,

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