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ONE individual may be taken as an illustration of the individuals of the whole species. From its properties we learn those of every individual of that species.
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After this remark you will understand that a person may sometimes dream that he has gone to a certain country, married there, stayed some time, and had a son whom he named so-and-so, and that this son died. In such a dream the sleeper feels joy and sadness. In the same way the prophet sees in a prophetic vision extraordinary things, experiences joy and grief at great events, and performs in the vision acts that are not fit to be mentioned.
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Thus the prophet says, And the Lord said unto me, without mentioning that it was in a dream. The multitude imagined that all those acts, journeys, questions and replies, which the prophet describes as having occurred during his prophetic inspiration, took place in reality; they were, in fact, experienced in a prophetic dream.
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I will mention here an instance concerning which no person will entertain the least doubt, and I will add others of the same kind, from which you may draw conclusions as to other cases. The prophet Hosea was told, Go, take unto thee a wife of harlotry, etc. He went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bare him a son. Undoubtedly all this occurred in a prophetic vision, for it is impossible that God should command any person to do an act of such immorality — a most degrading act.
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It is analogous to the description of the vision of Abraham which begins, The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision; and then it says in the same vision, And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars. The heavens did not move, and Abraham did not go out of his house; it all happened in the vision.
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The same can be said of the passage in Zechariah: And I fed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock; and I took unto me two staves — the whole of this chapter describes a prophetic vision.
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The correctness of this theory cannot be doubted, and only those do not comprehend it who confuse the possible with the impossible.
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From the instances quoted you may draw conclusions as to cases not mentioned by me; they are all of the same kind and follow the same rule: all are prophetic visions. All acts, journeys, and events related in Ezekiel occurred in the prophetic vision. The same applies to the story of Hosea mentioned above; to the passage in Isaiah about removing his sackcloth; to Jeremiah's visions of the almond rod and the boiling caldron. All these were visions.