*^The main difference between our sleeping and vraking ttioughts appears to lie in this, that in the former case the perceptive faculties of the mind (the sensational powers [not their organs; see Butler, AncU- ogy^ pt. i, c. 1], and the imagination which combines the impressions derived from them) are active, while the refl^Bctive powers (the reason or judgment by which we control those impressions, and distin^ish between those which are imaginary or subjective and those which correspond to, and are produced by, objective realities) are generally asleep. Milton's account of dreams (in Par. Lost, v, lOO-JlS) seems as accurate as it is striking. Thus it is that the impressions of dreams are in themselves vivid, natural, and pictur- esque, occasionally gifted with an intuition beyond oar ordinary powers, but strangely incongruous and often grotesque ; the emotion of surprise or increduli- ty, which arises fh)m a sense of incongruity, or of un- Itkeness to the ordinary course of events, being in dreams a thing unknown. The mind seems to be sur- rendered to that power of association by which, even in its waking hours, if it be inactive and inclined to * musing,* it is often carried through a series of thoughts connected together by some vague and accidental as- sociation, until the reason, when it starts again into activity, is scarcely able to trace back the slender line of connection. The difference is that, in this latter case, we are aware that the connection is of our own
making, whUe in sleep It appears to be caused by an actual succession of events. Such is usually the case ; yet there is a class of dreams, seldom noticed, and, in- deed, less common, but recognised by the experience of many, in which the reason is not wholly asleep. In these cases it seems to look on as it were fh>m without, and so to have a double consciousness : on the one hand we enter into the events of the dream, as though real ; on the other we have a sense that it is but a dream, and a fear lest we should awake and its pageant should pass away. In either case the ideas suggested are accepted by the mind in dreams at once and inevita- bly, instead of being weighed and tested, as in our waking hours. But it is evident that the method of such suggestion is still undetermined, and, in fact, is no more capable of being accounted for by any single cause than the suggestion of waking thoughts. The material of these latter is supplied either by ourselves, through the senses, the memory, and the imagination, or by other men, generally through the medium of words, or, lastly, by the direct action of the Spirit of God, or of created spirits of orders superior to our own, or the spirit within us. So also it is in dreams. In the first place, although memory and imagination sup- ply most of the material of dreams, yet physical sensa- tions of cold and heat, of pain or of relief, even actual impressions of sound or of light will often mould or suggest dreams, and the physical organs of speech will occasionally be made use of to express the emo- tions of the dreamer. In the second place, instances have been known where a few words whispered into a sleeper's ear have produced a dream corresponding to their subject. On these two points experience gives undoubted testimony; as to the third, it can, from the nature of the case, speak but vaguely and uncertainly. The Scripture declares, not as any strange thing, but as a thing of course, that the influ- ence of the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its sleeping as well as its waking thoughts. It declares, that G<^ communicates with the spirit of man directly in dreams, and also that he permits created spirits to have a like communication with it. Its declaration is to be weighed, not as an isolated thing, but in con- nection with the general doctrine of spiritual influence, because any theory of dreams must be regarded as a part of the general theory of the origination of all thought" (Smith).
Whatever may be the difficulties attending the sub- ject, still we know that dreams have formed a chan- nel through which Jehovah was pleased in former times to reveal his character and dispensations to his people. Thb method of divine communication is aUuded to in Job xxxiii, 14. The most remarkable instances re- corded in the Old Testament are those of Abimelech with regard to Abraham (Gen. xx, 8), Jacob on his way to Padan-Aram (Gen. xxviii, 8), and a^n on returning thence (Gen. xxxi, 10), Laban in pursuing Jacob (Gen. xxxi, 24), Joseph respecting his future advancement (Gen. xxxvii, 6-11), Gideon (Judg. vii), and Solomon (1 Kin^ iii, 5). In the New Testament (as was predicted, Joel ii, 28) we have the equally clear cases of Joseph respecting the infant Jesus (Matt, i, 20 ; ii, 12, 13, 19), Paul (Acts xvi, 9 ; xviii, 9 ; xxvii, 28), and perhaps Pilate's wife (Matt, xxvii, 19).
**It must be observed that, in accordance with the principle enunciated by Paul in 1 Cor. xiv, 15, dreams, in which the understanding is asleep, are recognised indeed as a method of divine revelation, but placed be- low the visions of prophecy, in which the understand- ing plays its part It is true that the book of Job, standing as it does on the basis of * natural religion,' dwells on dreams and * visions of deep sleep' as the chosen method of God's revelation of himself to man (see Job iv, 13; vii, 14; xxxiii, 16). But in Num. xii, 6; Deut. xiii, 1, 3, 5; Jer. xxvii, 9; Joel ii, 28, etc., dreamers of dreams, whether true or false, are placed below * prophets,* and even below * diviners ;' and sim-