Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 277 



And even thofe of the better kind may, I think, be derived from a 

 Phantafia well regulated, and a found conftitution of Body and 

 Mind. But I am now to fpeak of Dreams, which, I believe, 

 are from Jove, as Homer fays, or from fome Superior Mind 

 communicating with our Minds, and imparting to them knowledge, 

 which they could not otherwife attain. The Dreams I mean are 

 thofe by which future events are foretold. 



And here 1 differ from Synefius, who diftinguiflies, of thefe pro- 

 phetic Dreams, fuch as are plain and unambiguous, from thofe that 

 are ambiguous and enigmatical. The former, he admits, are from 

 Superior Powers ; but the latter he derives from certain effluvia or 

 idols^ as he calls them, which fly off from things future as well as 

 prefent, and are imperfe(3:ly reprefented in the Mirror of our Phan- 

 tafia, fo as to require much attention and obfervation in order to di- 

 vine futurity from them. But I make no fuch diftin<3:ion ; and I 

 fay that all Dreams which are truly prophetical are fufficiently 

 plain. 



And, in xhtjirji place, though I agree with Synefius, that our 

 Phantafia is the feat of the forms of things in generation and cor- 

 ruption, as our Intelledt is of Ideas of things eternal ; yet, I cannot 

 be convinced that the human Phantafia contains all things in gene- 

 ration and corruption, the future as well as the prefent, any more 

 than that our Intelled contains all Ideas ; but I beheve that the ca- 

 pacity of each of them is limited. But, 2^/y, if I did believe that 

 our Phantafia was as comprchenfive as he makes it, I mufl: fee a 

 rcafon why, at one time, I fhould fee futurity in it, and not at ano- 

 ther ; for no body will fiy that we always fee future events, though, 

 according to Synefius, they be always in the Phantafia. I muft 

 therefore know how they come to be produced to our View at one 

 time, and not at another. This, I know, he accounts for by his 

 Idols or Images ; but thefe, as I have faid, are mere fiiftions, and, I 



think. 



