The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1893-04-01
DREAMS.
Remarkable Sermon By Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage.
The Significance of Dreams as Evidences
of Immortality-God Does Sometimes
Appear in Dreams In This Day
Some Instances.

Appear In Dreams In h Day
Some Instances.
A remarkable sermon was recently
preached at Brooklyn by DIR. Talmage.
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.
text chosen was Genesis xviii,
II, IL: "lIe took of the stones of that
place and put them for his pillows, and
lay down in that place to sleep, and he
dreamed" The preacher said:
Asleep on n pillow-case filed with
hens feathers it is not strange one
should have pleasant dreams. But
here is Il 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. 1t is the first dream of Bible
record. You may say of a 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 mas marched upon the human soul,
decided the fate of nations, and changed
the course of the worlds history. God
appeared in u dream to Abimelech,
warning him against an unlawful mar
riage; in u 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, announcing his ~decapita-
ton; to Pharaoh, showing first the sew
en- plenty years, and then the seven
famine-strucll years, under the figure
of the seven fat COWS d~evouring the
seven lean cows; to Solomon, CIV
and riches and honor; to the war
rior, under the figure of a barley
cake shifting down a tent, encouraging
Gideon in his battle against the Amale-
kites; to Nebuchadnezzar, under the
figure of a broken image and a hewn-
down tree, foretelling his overthrow OF
power; to Joseph of the New Tesla
ment announcing the birth of Christ in
his own household; to Mary, bidding
her fly from Herodic prosecutions; to
Pilates wife, warning him not to be-
overthrow of Christ.
We all admit that God in ancient
times and under Bible dispensation ad.
dressed the people through dreams.
The question now is, does God appear
in our day and reveal himself through
dreams? This is the question every
body asks, and that question this morn
ing l shall try to answer You ask me
If I believe in dreams. My answer is,
l do believe in dreams. but all l have
to say will be under five heads.
Remark the first: The Scriptures are
so full of revelation from God, that if
we got no communication from him in
dreams, we ought, nevertheless, to be
satisfied.
With twenty guide-books to tell you
how to get to Boston, or Pittsburgh, or
London, or Glasgow, or Manchester, do
you want a night vision to tell you how
to make the journey? We have in this
Scripture full direction in regard to the
JOuTICy VI JhlS llIt, ftllti INV W RCb W
the Celestial city, and with this grand
guide-book, this magnificent directory,
we ought to be satisfied. / have more
faith in a decision to which / come
when ! am wide-awake than
when I am sound asleep. l have
noticed that those who give q great
deal of their time to studying dreams
get their brain added. They are very
anxious to remember what they
dreamed about the first night they
slept in a new house. If in their dream
they take the hand of a corpse, they
are going to die. If they dream of a
garden, it les a sepulcher. If some
thing turns out according to n night
vision, they say: well, ] am not sur
prised. l dreamed it." If it turns out
different from the night vision, they
say: swell, dreams go by contraries. F"
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 salts
fed if we get no further revelation.
If there should come about a crisis in
your life upon which the Bible does not
seem to be sufficiently specific, go to
God in prayer and you will get especial
direction. / have more faith, ninety
nine times out of q hundred, in direc.
tions given you with the Bible in your
lap and your thoughts uplifted in
prayer to God, than in all the informa.
ton you will get unconscious on your
pillow. ] can very easily understand
why the Babylonians and the Egypt.
ians, with no Bible, should put so 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 dream.
came from Jove, and that in ancient
times dreams were classified into 9
science; but why do you and / put sc
much stress upon dreams when we have
u supernal book of infinite wisdom or
all subjects? Why should we harry
ourselves with dreams? Why should
Eddystone and Barnegat light houses
question a summer FREELY?
Remark the second: All dreams have
an important meaning.
They prove that the sou is com
paratively independent of the body
The eyes are closed, the senses are dull
the entire body goes into n lethargy
which in all languages is used as a typ
of death, and then the soul spreads it,
wing and never sleeps. 1t leaps the
Atlantic ocean and mingles in scene
4, 900 miles away. 1t travels grea'
reaches of time, flashes back eight,
years, and octogenarian is n boy agair
in his fathers house. If the soul, be
fore it has entirely broken its chain o
flesh, can do all this, how far can i
leap, what circles can it cut when it il
fully liberated! Every dream, whether
agreeable or harassing, whether sun
shiny or tempestuous, means so mucl
that rising from your couch you ough
to kneel down and say: so God! am
immortal? Whence? Whittier? Tw,
natures. My sou Gagged now-wha
when the door of the cage is opened
If my soul can fly so far in the few
hours in which my body is asleep in tn
night, how far can it fly when my bod,
sleeps the long sleep of the grave?
Remark the third: The vast major
ity of dreams are merely the result o
disturbed physical condition, and ar,
not n supernatural message.
Job had carbuncles, and he wa
scared in the night. He says: "Thol
scarest me with dreams and terrifies
me with visions" Solomon had al
overweight brain, overweight will
public business, and he suffered will