Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-12-06
VISIONS OFTHE NIGHT
DR.. Talmage Shows How God Has
Honored the Dreanb o
Il Has Decided the Fate of Nations
and Has Changed Course OF
Worlds HistOFyeWarn-
tngs from God,

1Copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch. N. "
Washington. Dec. 1.
In this discourse DIR. Talmage dis
cusses a much talked of subject, and
One in which all are interested. The
text is Joel 2, %: II will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men
shall see visions"
In this photograph of the millen-
MUM the dream is lifted into great
conspicuity. You may say of dream
that it is nocturnal fantasia or that
it is the absurd combination OF wax
ing thoughts, and with slur OF in
tonation 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 fate of nations and
changed the course of the worlds his
tory. God. appeared in dream to
Abimelech, warning him against an
unlawful marriage; in dream to
Jacob, announcing by the ladder set
against the sky full of angels the
communication between earth and
heaven; in dream to Joseph, fore
telling his coming power under the
figure of all the sheaves of the
harvest bowling down to his sheaf;
to the chief butcher, foretelling his
disimpris onment; to the chief baker,
announcing his decapita ton; to
Pharaoh, showing him first the seven
plenty years. and then the seven
famine-struck years, under the figure
of the seven lean cows, devouring the
seven fat cows; to Solomon, giving
him the choice between wisdom and
riches and honor; to a warrior, under
the figure of barley cake shifting
down a tent, encouraging Gideon in
his battle against the eMidianites; to
Nebuchadnezzar, under the figure of
a broken image and a hewn-down
tree, foretelling the overthrow of His
power; to Joseph of the New Tesla
nent, announcing the birth of Christ
in his own household, and again bid
ding him fly from Herodic cpersecu-
tions;' to Pilates wife, warning him
not to become complicated 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 every
body asks, and that question I will
try to answer: You ask me if / be-
lieve in dreams. My answer is, do,
but all I have. to say will be under
five heads
Remark the First.-The Scriptures
are SO full of revelations from God
chat If we get no communication
from Him in dreams we ought, never
theless,o to be satisfied.
With 20 sguidebooks to tell you how
Z to get to New York or Pittsburg 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 re-
gard to the Journey. of this life and
how to get to the celestial. city, and
with this grand guidebool, this mag
nifcent directory, we ought to be sat
isfied. have more faith in decision
to which I come when I am wide
awake than when I am sound asleep.
I 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
theyvslept in a 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 something turns out according to
a night vision, they say: "Well, am
not surprised. 1 dreamed it, If it
turns out different from the night
vision, they say: "Well, dreams go
by contraries."o In their efforts to
put their dreams into rhythm they
put their waking thoughts into dis
cord. 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. l have more faith
30 times out of 100, in directions given
you with the Bible in your lap and
your thoughts aplifted in prayer to
God than in all the information you
will get unconscious on your pillow.
, Remark the Second.-All dreams
rave an important meaning. They
prove that''the soul is comparatively
independent Of the body.o The eyes
are closed, the senses are dull, the
entire body goes into lethargy
which in ll'languages is, used as a
type of death, and then the soul
spreads its wing ard never sleeps II
leaps the Atlantic ocean and mingles
IN scenes 5000 miles away. It travels
great reaches of time, flashes back sc
years, and the octogenarian is boy
again in. his fathers house. If the
SOU, before it has entirely broken its
chain of flesh .scan do all this how faI
can it leap, what CIRCLES can it cut
when it is. fully liberated? Every
dream, whether agreeable or harass.