Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1849-04-12
APRIL 10, 1S49.

'"s e"oueh oi'eh singular enough, present new
ertheless, nothing very mysterious or difficult of
solution, being sometimes produced by i'll health,
sometimes bya prevailing care, sometimes by ac-
cIdental circumstances, as in the case above rea
ted, and sometimes by a combination of part or
all the causes just enumerated. We will there
lore pass to another class Of these mental oper-
atoms, which being more vivid and connected,
and being also followed by the events which
they appear to have foreshadowed, deserve more
serious consideration. We allude to what are
termed prophetic dreams. Of these, great
proportion doubtless may be explained on natur-
al principles; since they often become the direct
cause OF the event they seem to predict For
instance, person dreams of his, or her own
DEATH The dream is taken as truly foreshowing
such an event-the consequence is a deep de-
Spondency, which soon deranges all the functions
Oi life, and ends in disease and death. Again,
ayoung man dreams Of being married to young
lady whom he never before thought of address,
ing The dream fingers, and produces, as all
ST'aiy dreams 90, we imagine, softemnq effect
4 ohthe feelings; ana THESE neiings sUUn leuu
him into course which very naturally results in
the event thus seemingly foretold. And such
also may be the case with dreams that foretell
the obtaining Of wealth, Or other desired objects.
They may produce faith of success which
prompts to those oXertions that were only neces.
say to secure the end thus prognosticated And
we have no doubt that many death-many a
marriage, and many another kind of event, may
be traced back directly to what have been taken
as prophetic dreams; yet, at the same time, be
but the Legitimate effect of such dreams, brought
about by the operation of natural means.
But there Is q class of dreams, which have ev
or COMPOUNDED the wisest of those, who have at
tempted thus to account for them since the worlt
began. Such to say nothing Of those sacrec
prophecies which were avowedly made through
the medium of dreams such were the dreams o
the wise men of the East, which warned them t.
, avoid the murderous Herod, after their discover,
OF the newborn Messiah such the dream o.
, Plates wife, which caused him to refuse all
sanction of the crucifcton--such the dream o
the imperial consort Of Caesar, which, withou
f previous suspicious, so distinctly foretold ne
husbands approaching assassination. Such, il
, more modern times, was the dream, which, in tn
, case Of the Rev. VIM. Tenant of New jersey
, I(who from his resemblance to a certain feon wa
about to be convicted of horse thef0 brought ;
man fifty miles to prove an albi and such, t
cite no more of the numerous cases which nigh
f be adduced, was the dleam Of a lady in Massa
chusetts, who, being engaged for boat ride, an
dreaming she was to be drowned persuaded he
husband to take her to ride into the country
|. when by the frgh of their horse she was throw
E from BRIDGE and met the fate she was seekin,
to avoid
! But what shall we say to cases like these
To deny the occasional occurrence and fulfill
|. luent Of such dreams, is, it appears to us, t
:, set all human testimony at defiance-to attribut
that tulflment to chance, is too much like attrib
uting the machinery of the universe to the sam
source; and to account for them on natural prin
ciples, is task which comes not, we confess
within the scope of our ingenuity. How ther
shall we account for them? To those who, Xix
ourselves, think it probable that men are still oc
casionally permitted to receive from ministerin
spirits intimations of coming destinies, or augt
else which the designs of Providence require
be communicated, the matter stands explained
to those who reject such belief we can say
more; and must therefore leave to them the tas
of explaining i'll any other way, if they cal
what, to both learned and unlearned has SO lon
been a theme of awe and of mystery