preffion fay the fame, that what they feel is very extraordinary and unufual; and in this Cafe, unless the truly Infpired Man felt what the falfe Pretender to Infpiration felt; How can he be fure, he urges his own Inspiration upon better Grounds than the other does his? B. I was of this Opinion before, from what How fir you faid at another Place But the things Things fig fignify'd or reveal'd in Dreams, you fay may be nify'd or a Ground of concluding them Supernatural. Dreams, Pray would you enlarge on that. reveal'd in may argue A. Firft, If any Ideas entirely new, fuch as a their DiMan was never beforé fenfible of, neither is ca- vine Ori pable of obtaining, by the ufe of his Sen-ginal. fes, or Information of others; if these, or the like are reveal'd, or infufed in Sleep, there can be no doubt of their being Supernatural. B. True: For I remember an Ingenious Author fays well, and lays the Foundation of this Diftinction (a). The Dreams of Sleeping Men, are, as I take it, all made up of the Waking Man's Ideas, though for the most part odly put together. This is fpoken of Natural Dreams; within which compafs of Ideas they must be concluded. For a Man can never Dream naturally of Things he never Heard, Read, Thought or Saw. But then altho' this would be a clear Diftinction, where it could be apply'd; yet feldom have the Divine Dreams in Scripture been of this fort, convey'd Ideas into the Mind intirely new, but rather have proceeded upon Ideas before known, -as other Natural Dreams do. Neither doth the Subject-Matter of thefe Divine Dreams, ordinarily require or allow an Inspiration of fuch Ideas; they generally containing Admo (*) Mr. Lock. F nitions nitions of fome Good or Evil, of fomething to be done or omitted, of which Men cannot want Ideas.. A. Very right. So likewife the Gift of Tongues and Languages, a Communication of Divine Knowledge and Truth, beyond the Power of the Natural Faculties to reach, nót-. withstanding these are fuch Evidences of Di vine Inspiration, where they are beftow'd (of which more hereafter) yet it feems fomewhat! incongruous, Men fhould receive thofe Things in Sleep; neither have they ufually; neither have the Ends and Purposes of Divine Dreams: required it. But let us imagine other Cafes. Suppofe a Man dreamt of another's Secret Refolutions and Purposes, of which before, whether Sleeping or Waking, he never thought, never had the leaft Intimations or Sufpicions. As (a) Abimelech dreamt of Sarab, that inftead of being the Sifter, she was the Wife of Abraham; might not, this conclude fuch Dreams Supernatural?t B. Yes, doubtlefs: But I fancy the force of the Conviction would chiefly lie in the Cort refpondency of the Dream to the Effect, as in this of Abimelech, when he found he dreamt true, and that Sarab was really the Wife of Abraham, it imported to him fomething beyond Natural And indeed the Evils that were inflicted oni Abimelech's Houfe and People, and other Cire cumftances, that attended this Dream of his, may probably be prefumed to give it the greater Credit. , A. I grant you. But you muft yield me here is fomewhat of Strangeness in the Cafe; Abi melech's Dream, however, was not made up of his Waking Thoughts, for thefe were quite the (4) Gen. ch. 20. v. 3. 7 contrary, contrary, that he was Abraham's Sifter. So when (a) Jofeph dreamt the Bleffed Virgin Conceived of the Holy Ghoft: This again could not be his Waking Thoughts, but the contrary. And it is very strange in Sleep, how fuch an Imagination fhould feize a Man. B. There is a ftrangeness in Dreams. As in the former Cafe of Abimelech, he never before his Dream thought Sarab, Abraham's Wife, but before this, he was furnifh'd with the Idea of Abraham and Sarah, as of Wife and Sifter; and in Dreams things are odly jumbled and put together; as Mr. Dryden well expreffes it. Dreams are the Interludes which Fancy makes, ! 1 So here, Wife for Sifter; and confequently, fo far, as it concerns the Matter of the Dream, it answers to the Character of a Natural one, and fo doubtless would have pafs'd with Abimelech, had there not been other Reafons to the con-i trary. As to the other Inftance, That a Wo man fhould conceive of the Holy Ghoft; this is more remote, I confefs, whether Sleeping or Waking, from the Thoughts or Imaginations of any Man. But we all allow the Sleeping Man more capable of Oddnefs and Unaccountablenefs of Thoughts or Imaginations than the Waking Man; and confequently. Thoughts fo ftrange and remote from the common Conceptions of Men, for ought I know, would be a better Ar gument of Infpiration in Men Waking, than Sleeping. But I think, at leaft, Oddnefs, or (4) Matt, eb 1, 20 F 2 what what feems Inconfiftency of Thoughts, to the Natural Understandings of Men, is a very infufficient Ground to conclude Men in Sleep, under Supernatural Impreffions, or to build the Divinity of Dreams on; because of all the time of a Man's Life, this is it, in which he is peculiarly capable of Strangeness and Inconfiftency of Imaginations. an Argu tural. A. This therefore, at the firft approach of Divine Impreffions or Revelations in Dreams, cannot be any certain and fure diftinction of them, although it may ferve to raise peculiar notice and heed to them. But feeing Oddness of Thoughts will not do, what think you of Order, Vivacity, Clearnefs of Thoughts or Imaginations? For in Cafes of this extream Difficulty, we ought to let nothing pafs Unexamin'd. B. For ought I know, you have hit upon the Right at laft. For if we know the utmost bounds of Natural, we can eafily diftinguish, what is Supernatural. And as to Natural Dreams Mr. Lock defines well in thefe Words. Liveliness And Dreaming it felf is, the Perception of Ideas (whilft and Order the outward Senfes are stopp'd, fo that they receive not of Ideas in outward. Objects with their usual quickness) in the Dreams, Mind, not fuggefted by any External Objects, or ment of Known Occafion, nor under any Choice or Conduct of their being the Understanding at all. According to which, a Superna faint perception of Ideas, rambling, confus'd, without any Order, or Regularity in Sleep, is the genuine Character of a Natural Dream; Faint, becaufe not fuggefted, or occafioned by Outward Objects, with that ufual quickness; again Rambling, and Confus'd, because not under any Choice nor Conduct of the Understanding at all. If this be a Natural Dream, (as truly it seems to be) the contrary, viz. a quick, lively Perception of Ideas, regular, uniform, and coherent, in my Opinion, fhould bid fair for Supernatural. For Coherency and Regularity of Ideas, muft fuppofe a Choice and Conduct of fome Understanding; and because this cannot be the Understanding of the Sleeping Man, it must be fome other Understanding, that guides and conducts these Ideas. A. This feems highly probable, for the Reafon, why in Natural Dreams, the Perception of Ideas, is fo faint and languid, is because no real External Caufe nor Object excited them; and confequently they appear not real, but a meer Dream, when One awakes. But when a real Caufe or Object excited those Ideas, why may not the Perception, be as lively, as when Outward Objects excited them, efpecially if the Caufe that excited them, whether an Angel, or GOD Almighty, made as ftrong an Impreffion upon the Understanding, or Fancy, as Outward Objects do, when One is awake? Why then may not the Perception of the Ideas thus excited, be as lively and ftrong, as of Ideas really excited by Outward Objects? And if the Perception be as lively, upon the Minds being acquainted with it, why may not Things thus convey'd, appear as real, as Things convey'd to the Mind, when broad awake, through the Senfes? For we judge of the Reality of Things, by the Livelinefs and Order of Ideas, and if the Livelinefs and Order be at leaft as great, in one Cafe, as the other, our Ground of concluding Things Real, would be as great in one Cafe, as the other. And, truly, if you fuppofe in Sleep, as great Order and Livelinefs of Ideas, as when Awake, you would leave little Diftintion between Sleeping and Waking; or at least a Man would be puzled exceedingly, to know (: to |