Milford chronicle., 1893-03-31
WHAT ISM A DREAM?
DR.. TALMAeE DEDUcEs AN IMPoR-
TANT LESSON FROM VISIONS.

Dreams Recorded In the Bible-Why th
Dreams of To-day Are, as a Rule. Of No
Significance But God Can and Oeea-
sionaIIy Does Speak In Dreams.
BROOKLYN, March pa remarkable ser
mon was preached by Rev DR.. Talmage in
Che Tabernacle TODAY 4 subject being a
psychological and religious study of the
Phenomena Of the mind during sleep and
the Significance Of dreams as evidence OF
immortality. The text chosen was Genesis
xviii. H. ale took of the stones Of that
place and put them for his pillows and lay
down in that place TO sleep, and he
dreamed" "
Asleep on "A pillowcase filled with hens
feathers it is not strange one should have
pleasant dreams But here is pillow OF
rock and Jacob with his head on it, and,
lol a dream of angels, two professions,
those coming down the stairs met by those
going up the stairs. IL is the first dream
Of Bible record. You may say Of a dream
that il is nocturnal fantasia, or that
II IL the absurd combination Of waking
thoughts, and with slur Of intOnation you
may say 1T is only dream" but God
has honored the dream by making it the
avenue through which again and again he
has marched upon the human soul, decided
the fnte of nations and changed the course
Of the worlds history
God appeared in dream to Abimelech,
warning him against an unlawful mar
riage. in dream to Joseph, foretelling his
coming power under the figure Of all the
sheaves Of the harvest bowling down to his
sheaf: to the chief butler, fOretelling his
disimprisonment; to the chief baker, an
nouncing his decupitation; to Pharaoh,
showing him first the seven plenty years
and then the seven famine struck years.
under the figure of the seven fat cows de
vOuring the seven lem cows; to Solomon,
giving him the choice between wisdom and
riches and honor, to the warrior, under the
figure Of harley cake shifting down a
tent, encouraging Gideon in his battle
against the Amalekites; to Nebuchadnez-
zar. under the figure Of broken image ana
a hewn down tree fOreteliing his overthrow
Of power; TO Joseph of the New Testament,
announcing the birth Of Christ In his own
household. to Mary, bidding her to fly
from Herodic prosecutions to Pilates wife,
warming him not to become complicated
with the judicial overthrow Of Christ.
AN ABUNDANT REVELATION.
We all admit that God in ancient times
the peoDle through dreams The question
now is. Does God appear in our day and re
veal himself through dreams? That is the
question everybody asks, and that question
this morning shall try to answer You
ask me if believe in dreams. My answer
is ! do believe in dreams, but all have to
say will bp under five heads.
Remark the First-The Scriptures are so
full Of revelation from God that if we get
no communication from him in dreams we
ouc5i. nevertheless to be satisfied.
With 90 guidehooks to tell you how TO
yet To Boston OF Pittsburg or London or
Glnsgow or Manchester, do you want
night vision TO tell you how to make the
lourneyY We have in this Scripture full
direction in regard to the journey of this
life and how to get to the celestial city, and
with this grand lguidebook, this nlagnif-
lcent directory, we ought to he satisfied
nave more faith III decision to which
come when am wide awake than when
am sound asleep | have noticed that
those who give great deal of their time to
studying dreams get their brains added.
/! They are very anxious to remember what
they dreamed about the first night they
slept in new house.
If in their dream they take the hand of a
corpse, they are going to die. If they dream
Of garden. it means a sepulcher If some
thing turns out according to night vision,
they say: well, ! am not surprised
dreamed it," If it turns out different from
the night vision, they say. well, dreams
20 by contrnries" In their efforts to put
their dreams into rhythm they put their
waking thoughts into discOrd. Now, the
Bible is so full of revelation that we ought
to be satisfied If we get no further revela-
tiOn.
Sound sleep received great honor wheI-
Adam slept so extraordinarily that the sur
gical incisiOn which gave him Eve did not
wake him But there is no such need foi
extraordinary slumber now, and he whG
catches an Eve must be wide awake! Nc
need Of such dream rs Jacob had with n
adder against the sky when ten thousand
times it had been demonstrated that earth
! aud heaven are in communication. NOsuch
dream needed as that which WAS given to
Abmelpch. warning him against an unlaw-
tul marriage when we have the records of
I the c0unty clerk 5 Office.
No need OF such a dream as was given
TO Pharaoh about the seven years Of famine,
for now the seasons march in regular pro
/ cession. and steamer and rail train carry
bre,dstufTs to every famine struck nation
| Noneed Of a dream like that which encour
/ aged Gideon for all through Christendom
/ is announced and acknowledged and
demonstrated that righteousness sooner OF
ater will get the victory
II there should come about crisis ir
your life upon which the Bible does rot
seem to hp sufficiently specific, go to God in
prayer, and you will yet especial direction
/ have more faith 90 times ont Of 100 in di
rectiOus given you with the Bible in your
zap and your thoughts uplifted in prayer to
God than in all the information you will
ret unconscious on your pillow.
| can very easily understand why the
Babylntians and the Egyptians, with no
Bible should put 20 much stress on dreams,
and the Chinese, in their holy book, Chow
King, should think their emperor gets his
directions through dreams from God, and
that Homer should think that all dreams
calme from .JOve. and that in ancient times
dreams were classified into a science. But
why do you and put so much stress upon
dreams when we have a supernal book of
infinite wisdom on all subiectsP Why
should we harry ourselves with dreamsi
Why should Eddystone and Barnegat
lighthouses question a summer ilrefyl
THE MEANING OF DREAMS.
Remark the Second-All dreams have an
important meaning
They prove that the soul is comparatively
independent Of the body. The eyes are
closed, the senses are dull, the entire body