The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-03

your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions"
In this photograph of the millennium
the dream is lifted into great conspicuity.
You may say of a dream that it is noe
turnal fantasia or that it is the absurd
combination of waking thoughts, and
with a slur Of information you may say.
1T is only a dream" but God has hon.
ored 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. God ap-
peared in a dream to Abimelech, warning
him against an unlawful marriage; In a
dream to Jacob, announcing by the ladder
set against the sky full of angels the COM
munication between earth and heaven; in
a 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 disim-
prisonment; to the chief baker, announc-
ing his decapitation; to Pharaoh, showing
him first the seven plenty years and then
the seven famine struck years, under the
figure of the seven lean cows d%evouriug
the seven fat cows; to Solomon, giving him
the choice between wisdom and riches
and honor; to a warrior, under the figure
Of q barley cake shifting down a tent, en-
couraging Gideon in his battle against the
Midianites; to Neb~uchadnezzar, under the
figure Of a broken image and a hewn
down tree. foretelling the overthrow of
his power; to Joseph Of the New Tesla
ment. announcing the birth of Christ in
his own household. and again bidding him
fly from Herodic prosecutions; to Pilates
wife, warning him not to become compli-
Gated with the judicial overthrow of
Christ.
We all admit that God in ancient times
and under Bible dispensation addressed
the people through dreams. The question
now is, does God appear in our day and
reveal himself through dreams? That is
the question everybody asks, and that
question l will try to answer. You ask
me if l believe in dreams. My answer is,
/ do, but all have to say will be under
five heads.
Remark the First.-The Scriptures are
so full Of revelations from God that if
we get no communication from him in
dreams we ought. nevertheless. to be sat
isfied.
With twenty g%uidebooks to tell you how
to get to New York or Pittsburg or Lon
don or Glasgow or Manchester do you
want q 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 magnificent directory, we
ought to be satisfied. l have more faith
in a decision to which / come when l am
wide awake than when l am sound
asleep. l have noticed that those who
give a 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 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
means II sepulcher. If something turns
out according to Il night vision, they say:
well, l am not surprised. ] dreamed
it," If it turns out different from the
night vision. they say. We'll. dreams go
by contrarrrS.' 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
revelation.
Adams Sound Sleep.
Sound sleep received great honor when
Adam slept so extraordinarily that the
" uNISioh "hiNh SaNS dihl wv oIO
not wake him. hut there is no such need
for extraordinary slumber now, n he
who catches an Eve must needs be wide
awake. No need of such a dream as ia
cob had. with a ladder against the sky,
when ten thousand times IL has been DEM
nnstrated that earth and heaven are in
communication No such dream needed
as that which was given to Abimelech,
warning him against an unlawful mar
riage. when we have the records Of the
county clerks ofi=e. No need Of such a
dream as was given to Pharaoh about the
seven years Of famine. for now the sea-
sous march in regular procession and
steamer and rail train carry breadstuffs
10 every famine struck nation. No need
Of q dream like that which encouraged
Gideon. for all through Christendom it is
announced ana acknowledged and demon
strated that righteousness. sooner or later,
will get the victory.
If there should come about a crisis in
your life upon which the Bible does not
seem to be sufficiently specific. 60 to God
in prayer and you will get especial direc-
ZION. | have more faith. ninety-nine
times out OF a hundred. in directions Civ
en- you with the Bible in your lap and
your thoughts uplifted in prayer to God
Iudu IN Ill the you Will get
unconscious on your pillow.
l can very easily understand why the
BabyIonians and the Egyptians, 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 thar all dreams came from Jove.
and that in ancient times dreams were
classified into a science, but why do you
and l put so much stress upon dreams
when We have a supernal book Of infinite
wisdom on all subjects? Why should We
harry ourselves with dreams? Why
should Eddystone and Barnegat light.
houses question a summer FREELY?
Remark the Second.-An dreams have
an important meaning. They prove thai
the soul is comparatively independent OF
the body. The eyes are closed, the senses
are dull the entire body goes into q Ieth
T which in all languages is used as q
type OF dea:h. and then the soul SPREADS
it's wing and never sleeps. IL leaps the At.