The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-03-29


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 az evidence OF
immortality. The text chosen was Genesis
xviii, II, '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 pillowcase filed with hens
feathers il Is not strange one should have
pleasant dreams. But Eere is n pillow of
rock and Jacob with his head on IL. and,
loi dream Of angels, two professions,
those coming down the stairs met 10y those
going up the stairs. II Is the first dream
Of Bible record. You may say of dream
that il il nocturnal fantasia, or that
Il il the absurd combination Of waking
thoughts and with slur Of intonation you
may say, lit is only dream" but God
has hOnOred the dream by making 1t the
avenue through which again and again he
bus marched upon the human soul, decided
the fate 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 20 Joseph, foreteling his
coming power under the figure OF all the
Iheavss OF the harvest bowing down TO his
gheaf: 70 the chief butler. f0retelling his
aisimprisonment 20 the chief baker, an
nouncng bis 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: 10 Solomon,
giving him the choice between wisdom and
riches and honor, 20 the warrior, under the
figure Of n barley cake shifting down n
tent, encouraging Gideon In his battle
against the Amalekitcs; TO NebuchadneZ-
zar under the figure Of broken image and
a hewn down tree. fOretelling his overthrow
of power, 10 Joseph Of the New Testament,
announcing the birth Of Christ In his own
household, TO Mary, bidding her to ay
FROM HcrOdic prosecutions; 20 Pilates wife,
warning him not 20 become complicated
with the judicial overthrow Of Christ
Az ABUNDANT REVELATION
We all admit that God in ancient times
and under Bible dispensRtion addressed
the people through dreams. The question
now is, Does God appear in our day and re-
veal himself through dreamss That is the
question everybody asks, and that question
this morning / shall try 10 answer. You
ask me If ! believe in dreams Ny answer
is, do believe in dreams bat all have to
say will be 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
ought nevertheless 10 be satisfied.
With 20 guidebOoSs TO tell you how to
get TO Boston or Pittsburg or London or
Glasgow or Manchester, do you want a
night vision TO tell you how 10 make the
Journey? We have in this Scripture full
direction in regard 10 the journey Of this
life and how TO get tOthe celestial city, and
with this grand guidebook, this magnif-
icent directory, we ought 10 be satisfied. |
have more faith In 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 10 remember what
they dreamed about the first night they
slept in a new house.
II in their dream they take the hand Of
corpse, they are going To die. If they dream
of a garden, il means a sepulcher. If some
thing turns OFT according TO a night vision,
they say; well. | am not surprised. /
dreamed il" If it turns out different from
the night vision, they say. well, dreams
90 by contrares." In their efforts to put
their dreams into rhythm they put their
waking thoughts into discOrd. Now, the
Bible is so fun of revelation that we ought
10 be satisfied if we get no further revela-
ton.
Sound sleep received great honor when
Adam slept 50 extraordinarily that the sur
gical incisiOn which gave him Eve did not
wake him. But there Is no such need for
extraordinary slumber now, and he who
catches AN Eve must be wide awakel No
need Of such dream as Jacob had with
ladder against the sky when ten Thousand
times il had been demonstrated that earth
and heaven are in communication NOsuch
dream needed as that which was given to
Abimelech, warning him against an unlaw-
ful marriage, when we have the records Of
the county clerks office
Oneed 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
breadstufTs 10 every famine struck nation.
Noneed Of a dream like that which encour-
aged Gideon, for all through Christendom
it il announced and acknowledged and
demonstrated that righteousness sooner or
later will get the victory.
II there should come about a crisis in
your life upon which the Bible does not
seem TO be sufficiently specific, 90 to God in
prayer, and you will yet especial direction.
] have more faith 50 times out OF 100 in di-
rections given you with the Bible in your
lap and your thoughts uplifted in prayer to
God than in all the information you will
get unconscious on your pillow.
/ can very easily understand why the
BabylOnians and the Egyptians, with no
Bible. should put so much stress on dreams,
and the Chinese. In their molly book, Chow
King, should think their emperor gets his
directions through dreams from God, and
that Homer should think that all dreams
came from JOye. and that in ancient times
dreams were classified into n science. But
why do you and put so much stress upon
dreams when we have a supernal book Of
infinite wisdom on all subjectsi Why
should we harry ourselves with dreamsi
Why should Eddystone and Barnegat
lighthouses question a summer flreayS
THE MEANING OF DREAMS.
Remark the Second-AIl 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
goes into lethargy which in all languages
Is used as type Of death, and then the
soul spreads It's wings and never sleeps. IL
leaps the Atlantic ocean and mingles in
scenes 1900 miles away. 1t travels great
reaches Of time, flashes back 50 years, and
the octogenarian Is boy again in his IA
Tiers house. III the SOUL before IL has en-
tirely broken It's chain Of flesh, can do all
this, how far can it leap, what circles can
a. -E.r. IL 4 frrlT forls