at the court of Eugenius IV, whom he followed to Rome, recommended him to that pope, as a man of a holy life and full of zeal: but they verified the maxim, Pessimum inimicorum genus laudantes, although they went with a good intention about it. The pope, knowing that this great preacher of the Reformation was at Rome, ordered that he should be tried; and he was found guilty of the most dangerous heresies that could be taught in those times--he blamed the dissolute life of the clergy, and that of the court of Rome. He said, that many abominations were committed in that court; that the church stood in need of a reformation; that the pope's excommunications ought not to be feared, when people serve God; that the monks might eat flesh; and that the clergy, who had not the gift of continency, might marry. He was burnt, and shewed a great constancy, nor did he retract. Some great persons, among the Catholics, have not scrupled to say that he was unjustly put to death. Baptista Mantuanus, who was general of the Carmelites, made a true martyr of him. The Protestants take care not to forget him, when they make a list of those who, at several times, have desired the reformation of the church. Art. CONECTE.

DREAMS.

IT were to be wished, for the happiness and quiet of an infinite number of persons, that dreams had never been mentioned as presages of future events; for those who are once possessed with this notion, imagine that the greatest part of the images that pass through their minds in their sleep, are so many predictions, which very often threaten them with future evils. Hence arise a thousand uneasy thoughts; and where there is one man who is not subject to this weakness, there are a thousand who are not able

to free themselves from it. I think we may say of

dreams the same almost as of inchantments, that they are far less mysterious than people believe, and somewhat more than free-thinkers fancy. The histories of all times and places relate, both with respect to dreams and magic, so many surprising things, that those who obstinately deny them all, render themselves suspected, either of want of sincerity, or judgment to discern the force of the proofs. A violent prejudice, or a certain turn of mind, blinds their understanding, when they compare the reasons pro and con. I have known some men of parts, who denied all presages from dreams upon this principle,none but God, said they, know things to come, that is, such as are called contingent: but dreams are generally supposed to foretel contingent futurities; God therefore must be the author of those dreams, and then he must produce them by a miracle; and so, in all the countries of the world, he must work an infinite number of miracles, which are no wise agreeable to the character either of his infinite greatness, or sovereign wisdom. These gentlemen insist strongly upon this, that the most mystical dreams are as common among Pagans and Mahometans, as among the followers of the true religion. In effect, read Plutarch, and the other Greek and Roman historians; read the books of the Arabians and the Chinese, and you will find in them as many examples of miraculous dreams, as in the bible, or in Christian histories. It must be confessed, that this objection is of great force, and seems to lead us necessarily to another system, that, which attributes these sort of dreams, not to God as the immediate cause, but to certain intelligences, who, under the direction of God have a great share in the government of man. It may be supposed, according to the doctrine of occasional causes, that there are general laws, which subject a great number of effects to the desires of such and such intelligences, as there are general laws, which

subject to the desires of men the motion of certain bodies. This supposition is not only agreeable to an opinion, which was very common among the Pagans, but also to the doctrine of the scripture, and to that of the ancient fathers. The Pagans acknowledged several inferior gods, who presided over particular things, and they pretended also, that each man had a genius that governed him. The Roman Catholics pretend, that the doctrine of a guardian-angel, and of an angel presiding over a whole country, a city, or a province, is founded upon the scripture. If you once lay it down for a truth, that God has thought fit to appoint certain spirits, as the occasional cause of man's conduct, with respect to certain events, then all the difficulties that are objected against dreams vanish away. We must no more wonder that we do not find a character of greatness or gravity in the images, which advertise us in dreams. Though they be confused or childish, and though they vary according to times and places, and according to the temperament of men's bodies, this ought not to surprise those, who know the narrow bounds of creatures, and the obstacles which occasional causes, of different kinds, must needs reciprocally raise against one another. Do we not find by experience, every day, that our soul and our body mutually hinder each other in those operations that are peculiar to them? an intelligence, that should act both upon our body and our mind, must needs find divers obstacles in the laws, which establish these two principles, as the occasional cause of certain effects. But whence comes it, may some ask, that these invisible genii do not make use of a fitter time? Why do they not advertise men of things future, while they are awake? Why do they wait till they are asleep? "Illud etiam requiro, cur, si deus ista visa nobis providendi causa dat, non vigilantibus potius det quàm dormientibus? Sive enim externus, & adventitius

enti daret ?*

pulsus animos dormientium commovet, sive per se ipsi animi moventur, sive quæ causa alia est, cur secundùm quietem aliquid videre, audire, agere videamur, eadem causa vigilantibus esse poterat : idque si nostra causa dii secundum quietem facerent, vigilantibus idem facerent; præsertim cùm Chrysippus, Academicos refellens, permulto clariora, & certiora esse dicat, quæ vigilantibus videantur quàm quæ somniantibus. Fuit igitur divina beneficentia dignius, cùm consuleret nobis, clariora visa dare vigilantibus, quàm obscuriora, per somnium: quod quoniam non fit, somnia divina putanda non sunt. Jam verò quid opus est circuitione, & amfractu, út sit utendum interpretibus somniorum potiùs quam directo? Deus, si quidem nobis consulebat, Hoc facito, Hoc ne feceris, diceret? idque visum vigilanti potiùs, quàm dormi- I likewise ask, why, if God gives us these visions, for the sake of fore-sight, he does not rather give them us when awake, than when asleep? For, whether an external and adventitious impulse affects the minds of the sleepers, or their minds are moved of themselves, or there be any other cause, why, in our sleep, we seem to see, hear, or do any thing; the same might be affected in those that are awake and if the gods did this for our sakes, when we are asleep, they would do the same when we are awake, especially since Chrysippus, refuting the academics, says, that our waking ideas are much more clear and certain than our sleeping ones. It were therefore more worthy of the Divine Goodness, in consulting our benefit, to give us clearer visions when awake, than more obscure in sleep; which not being done, dreams are not to be considered as divine. Besides, where is the use of the round-about way of consulting interpreters of dreams, rather than the direct? For if God considered our good, he would say. Do this, avoid doing that:' and would present such a vision rather to our waking, than to our sleeping *Cicero, de Divinat. lib. ii. cap. Ixi.

thoughts." Why do they communicate their predictions to people of weak minds, rather than to those of stronger heads? It is easily answered, that those who are awake, are not proper to be thus advertised; for then they consider themselves as the cause of every thing that presents itself to their imagination, and clearly distinguish between what they imagine, and what they see. But when they are asleep, they do not distinguish between their imaginations and sensations; all the objects, which they imagine, appear to them to be present, and they cannot retain exactly the coherence of their images: and so they cannot persuade themselves that they have not connected them together themselves; whence they conclude that some of them proceed from other causes, and were inspired by some spirit, that would advertise them of something. Can it be denied, that an engine is fitter to be played in a certain manner, when some of its parts are at rest, and when they are not? Let us say the same of our brain. It is more easy to direct in it certain motions for exciting presaging imaginations when the eyes, and other external senses, are locked up, than when they are in action. Do we know how far the effects of sickness or madness may assist the authors of dreams? can we doubt, but that the laws of motion, according to which our organs are moved, and which are only to a certain degree subject to the desires of created spirits, trouble and confound the images, which the author of a dream would render more distinct? Cicero seems to triumph, upon pretence that these images are obscure and intricate. "Jam vero quid opus est circuitione, & amfractu, ut sit utendum interpretibus somniorum potius, quam direoto? --- Venit in contentionem, sit probabilius, deosne immortales, rerum omnium præstantia excellentes, concursare omnium mortalium, qui ubique sunt, non modò lectos, verum etiam grabatos, & cùm stertentes aliquos viderent,