18. deserved the stigma
of false prophets, we may surely class these phantasies among the popular errors of the time. Yet the fulfilment of a prophecy may be consequence; and that without the imputation of falsehood or imposition, or of any special interference. (I am not recanting my opinions, Astrophel.) 1st. Through the effect of an imparted impetus. 2nd. Foresight, from the study of events http://www.toryburchsoutletstore.com/featured_products.html and character. 3rd. Constant thinking on one subject. 4th. Impressions of terror or alarm, from spectres, sybils, &c. As there are dreams from impressions on cheap tory burch handbags the body during sleep, so are there diseased tissues in the brain, which light up phantoms of terror and death perfectly prophetic. But wherefore so? Merely because they are induced by Tory Burch Outlet that disease which usually terminates in death. Such were the dreams during the nightmare which preceded, and, I believe, still precede, the epidemic fevers in Rome, and in those of Leyden, in 1669, when the patient fell asleep, and was attacked by incubus before each exacerbation. The impersonation of death was the prevailing phantom of their dream, and in reality death soon followed. Among those heathen tribes, where superstition and ignorance form part of a national creed, there is a degree of blindness and inconsistency that may truly be termed mania. It is the doctrine, not of prophecy, but Tory Burch Outlet of debased and absolute fatalism. The North American Indians not only regard the dream as prophetic, but often receive it as a solemn injunction, and are themselves the active agents in its fulfilment. "In whatever manner," says Charlevoix, "the dream is conceived, it is always looked upon as a thing sacred, and as the most ordinary way in which the gods Tory Burch Outlet make known their will to Tory Burch Outlet men. Filled with this idea, they cannot conceive how we should pay no regard to them. For the most part they look upon them either as a desire of the soul, inspired by some genius, or an order from him, and, in consequence of this principle, they hold it a religious duty to obey them. An Indian, having dreamt of the amputation of his finger, had it really cut off as soon as he awoke, first preparing himself for this important action by a feast!" Among more enlightened people there may be an inducement to action from the impression of a dream; here, also, the consequence is the fulfilment of the prophecy. Such, Astrophel, were the dreams of Arlotte and Cadiga; of Judas Maccabaeus; of Sylla; of Germanicus; and of Masulenius; and the dream of the priestess of Proserpine, on the eve of Timoleon's expedition from Corinth to Syracuse, that Ceres volunteered to be his travelling companion into Sicily. The dream of Olympia, that she was with child of a dragon, might both have suggested the mode of education, Tory Burch Outlet and incited the warlike spirit of Alexander. We know that the city of Carthage was rebuilt by Augustus Caesar, in consequence of the Tory Burch Outlet dream of his uncle Julius.