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Objection 1: It would seem that divination by dreams is not
unlawful. It is not unlawful to make use of divine instruction. Now
men are instructed by God in dreams, for it is written (Job
33:15,16): "By a dream in a vision by night, when deep
sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds, then
He," God to wit, "openeth the ears of men, and teaching
instructeth them in what they are to learn." Therefore it is not
unlawful to make use of divination by dreams.
Objection 2: Further, those who interpret dreams, properly
speaking, make use of divination by dreams. Now we read of holy men
interpreting dreams: thus Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's
butler and of his chief baker (Gn. 40), and Daniel interpreted
the dream of the king of Babylon (Dan. 2,4). Therefore
divination by dreams is not unlawful.
Objection 3: Further, it is unreasonable to deny the common
experiences of men. Now it is the experience of all that dreams are
significative of the future. Therefore it is useless to deny the
efficacy of dreams for the purpose of divination, and it is lawful to
listen to them.
On the contrary, It is written (Dt. 18:10): "Neither let
there be found among you any one that . . . observeth dreams."
I answer that, As stated above (Articles 2,6), divination is
superstitious and unlawful when it is based on a false opinion.
Wherefore we must consider what is true in the matter of foreknowing
the future from dreams. Now dreams are sometimes the cause of future
occurrences; for instance, when a person's mind becomes anxious
through what it has seen in a dream and is thereby led to do something
or avoid something: while sometimes dreams are signs of future
happenings, in so far as they are referable to some common cause of
both dreams and future occurrences, and in this way the future is
frequently known from dreams. We must, then, consider what is the
cause of dreams, and whether it can be the cause of future
occurrences, or be cognizant of them.
Accordingly it is to be observed that the cause of dreams is sometimes
in us and sometimes outside us. The inward cause of dreams is
twofold: one regards the soul, in so far as those things which have
occupied a man's thoughts and affections while awake recur to his
imagination while asleep. A such like cause of dreams is not a cause
of future occurrences, so that dreams of this kind are related
accidentally to future occurrences, and if at any time they concur it
will be by chance. But sometimes the inward cause of dreams regards
the body: because the inward disposition of the body leads to the
formation of a movement in the imagination consistent with that
disposition; thus a man in whom there is abundance of cold humors
dreams that he is in the water or snow: and for this reason physicians
say that we should take note of dreams in order to discover internal
dispositions.
In like manner the outward cause of dreams is twofold, corporal and
spiritual. It is corporal in so far as the sleeper's imagination is
affected either by the surrounding air, or through an impression of a
heavenly body, so that certain images appear to the sleeper, in
keeping with the disposition of the heavenly bodies. The spiritual
cause is sometimes referable to God, Who reveals certain things to
men in their dreams by the ministry of the angels, according Num.
12:6, "If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will
appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream."
Sometimes, however, it is due to the action of the demons that
certain images appear to persons in their sleep, and by this means
they, at times, reveal certain future things to those who have entered
into an unlawful compact with them.
Accordingly we must say that there is no unlawful divination in making
use of dreams for the foreknowledge of the future, so long as those
dreams are due to divine revelation, or to some natural cause inward or
outward, and so far as the efficacy of that cause extends. But it
will be an unlawful and superstitious divination if it be caused by a
revelation of the demons, with whom a compact has been made, whether
explicit, through their being invoked for the purpose, or implicit,
through the divination extending beyond its possible limits.
This suffices for the Replies to the Objections.
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