DREAM (drem), (Heb. khal-ante' ; Gr.
vap, on'ar).
Of all the subjects upon which the mind of man has speculated, there is perhaps none which has more perplexed than that of dreaming.
Whatever may be the difficulties attending the subject, still we know that it has formed a chan nel through which Jehovah was pleased in former times to reveal His character and dispensations to His people.
(1) Causes. In regard to the immediate cause of dreaming the opinions of the ancients were very various.
We believe that dreams are ordinarily the re embodiment of thought which have before, in some shape or other, occupied our minds. They are broken fragments of our former conceptions revived, and heterogeneously brought together. If they break off from their connecting chain, and become loosely associated, they exhibit ofttimes absurd combinations, but the elements still sub sist. If, for instance, any irritation, such as pain, fever, etc., should excite the perceptive organs while the reflective ones are under the influence of sleep, we have a consciousness of objects, colors, or sounds being presented to us, just as if the former organs were actually stimu lated by having such impressions communicated to them by the external senses; whilst, in conse quence of the repose of the reflecting power, we are unable to rectify the illusion, and conceive that the scenes passing before us, or the sounds that we hear, have a real existence. This want of mutual co-operation between the different fac ulties of the mind may account for the disjointed character of dreams. This position might be fully substantiated by an appeal to the evidence of fact. Dr. Beattie speaks of a man who could i be made to dream anything by whispering in his ear. Dr. Gregory relates of himself that, having once had occasion to apply a bottle of hot water to his own feet when he retired to bed, he dreamed that he was ascending the side of Mount lEtna, and that he found the heat of the ground almost insufferable. Persons who have had blisters applied to their heads have been known to dream of being scalped by a party of North American Indians. Sleeping in a smoky room, we may dream of a house or a city being in flames. The smell of a flower applied to the nostrils may call forth the idea of walking in a garden ; and the sound of a flute may excite in us the most pleas urable associations.
Here, then, we discover one great source of that class of dreams of which Solomon speaks in Eccles. v:7.
The only one of our mental powers which is not suspended while dreaming is fancy, or imagi nation. \Ve often find memory and judgment alternately suspended and exercised. Sometimes we fancy ourselves contemporaneous with persons who have lived ages before; here memory is at work, but judgment is set aside. \Ve dream of carrying on a very connected discourse with a deceased friend, and are not conscious that he is no more; here judgment is awake, but memory suspended. The power, however, to judge cor rectly, is always wanting in the dream. No mat ter how absurd the premise may be, the mind in dreaming accepts it as correct.
In the dream the mind is creator, inventor, artist, musician, dramatist. poet. orator, etc. The humblest plowboy transcends often in his dreams all that a Shakespeare has ever written. Dream ing is one of the most wonderful, if not the most wonderful of all the phenomena connected with the human mind. It gives a forceful suggestion of the infinite possibilities which lie in the soul, waiting for the opportunity to call them into active exercise.
(2) Patriarchal Dispensation. How God revealed himself by dreams, and raised up per sons to interpret them, the Scriptures abundantly testify. Under the three successive dispensations we find this channel of communication with man adopted. It was doubtless in this way that God appeared to the father of the faithful, ordering him to forsake country, kindred, and his father's house, and to go into the land that he would show hint. To this divine command Abraham paid a ready obedience. It was by a similar prompt obedienc-t to the admonition conveyed to him in a dream that Abimelech, himself (Gen. xx:3) and Abraham, too, were saved from the evil conse quences of his meditated act. In Gen. xxxi:to, Jacob informs his wives that it was God who saw how Laban oppressed him—who had directed him to take the speckled, etc. cattle for his wages, and had ordered him to return home. Ile obeyed; and when Laban, designing to do Jacob some harm (Gen. xxxi :24 ), pursued, and after seven days overtook him, God, by a dream, prevented the meditated evil. Joseph, whilst yet a child, had dreams predictive of his future advancement (Gen. xxxvii :6-1 ).