Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-03-30
WHAT ISM A DREAM9
DR.. TALMAeE DEDUcEs AN IMPoR-
TANT LESSON FROM VISIONS.

BROOKLYN, March GA remarkable ser,
mon was preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage in
the Tabernacle today, the 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, IL, "He 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 a pillow Of
rock and Jacob with his head on 1t, and,
lol a dream of angels, two professions,
those coming down the stairs met by those
going up the stairs. 1t Is the first dream
Of Bible record. You may say Of dream
that it Is nocturnal fantasia, or that
it Is the absurd combination Of waking
thoughts, and with a slur of intonation you
may say, 1T is only a 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 fate of nations and changed the course
Of the worlds history.
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 bowing down to his
sheaf; to the chief butler, foretelling his
disimprisonment; to the chief baker, an
nouncing his decapitation; 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 lean COWS; to Solomon,
giving him the choice between wisdom and
riches and honor; to the warrior, under the
figure of barley cake shifting down a
tent, encouraging Gideon in his battle
against the Amalekites; to Nebuchadnez-
zar, under the figure Of broken image and
a hewn down tree, foretelling 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,
warning him not to become complicated
with the judicial overthrow of Christ.
= AN ABUNDANT REVELATION.
We all admit that God in ancient time,
and under Bible dispensation addressed
the people through dreams The question
nuw is, Does God appear in our day and re-
veaf 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 t.
say will be under five heads.
Remark the First-The Scriptures are so
full of revelation from God that il we get
no communication from him in dreams we
ought nevertheless to be satisfied.
With 20 guidebooks to tell you how to
get to Boston or Pittsburg or London OF
Glasgow or Manchester, do you want 9
night vision to tell you how to make the
Journey? 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 guidebook, this magnif
icent directory, we ought to be satisfied.
have more faith in a decision to which
come when am wide awake than wheI
am sound asleep. l have noticed thai
those who give great deal of their time tt
| studying dreams get their brains added
They are very anxious to remember wha
they dreamed about the first night the!
slept in new house.
If in their dream they take the hand Of I
corpse, they are going to die. If they dream
of garden, it means a sepulcher. Ifsome
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, dream
| 20 by contraries." In their efforts to pu
their dreams into rhythm they put thei
waking thoughts into discord. Now, tn
| Bible Is so full of revelation that we ough
| to be satisfied IL we get no further revela
tion.
Sound sleep received great honor whel
Adam slept SO extraordinarily that the SUI
gical incision which gave him Eve did no
wake him. But there is no such need 70
extraordinary slumber now, and he VIII
catches an Eve must be wide awake! n
need OF such dream as Jacob had with
ladder against the sky when ten thousan
times 1t had been demonstrated that cart
and heaven are in communication. Nosuc
dream needed as that which was given
Abimelech, warning him against an unlaw
full marriage, when we have the records G
the county clerks Office.
No need of such a dream as was give
to Pharaoh about the seven years of famine
for now the seasons march in regular prC
cession, and steamer and rail train carr
breadstuffs to every famine struck natior
Noneed of dream like that which encoul
aged Gideon. for all through Christendor
it is announced and acknowledged an
demonstrated that righteousness sooner G
later will get the victory.
/ II there should come about a crisis /
your life upon which the Bible does nc
seem to be sufficiently specific, go to God i
prayer, and you will get especial direction
have more faith SO times out Of 100 in d
rections given you with the Bible in you
lap and your thoughts uplifted in prayert
God than in all the information you wi
get unconscious on your pillow.
can very easily understand why tt
Babylonians and the Egyptians, with L
Bible, should put so much stress on dream
and the Chinese in their holy book, Cho
King, should think their emperor gets b
directions through dreams from God, an
that Homer should think that all dream
came from Jove, and that in ancient tim,
dreams were classified into science. Bl
why do you and put so much stress upc
dreams when we have supernal book
infinite wisdom on all subjectss WI
should we harry ourselves with dream
Why should Eddystone and Barneg'
lighthouses question a summer firefyP
THE MEANING OF DREAMS.
Remark the Second-All dreams have 9
important meaning.
They prove that the soul is comparative
independent Of the body. The eyes a
closed, the senses are dull, the entire boo
goes into lethargy which in all languag
is used as type of death, and then Il
soul spreads its wings and never sleeps.
leaps the Atlantic ocean and mingles
scenes 5000 miles away. 1t travels gre
reaches of time, flashes back 50 years, al
the octogenarian is boy again in his +
theirs house. If the soul, before it has e
tirely broken its chain of flesh, can do 8
this, how far can it leap, what circles C,
it cut, when it is fully liberated?
Every dream, whether agreeable or hs