The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-01-02


cusses a much talked of subject, and
one in which all are interested. 1hs
| text is Joel 2, IS: Il will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; your old mel
shall dream dreams, your young men
shall see Visions
In this photograph Of the mlllen-
mum the dream is lifted into great
conspicuity. You may say of dream
| that it is nocturnal fantasia or thai
| it is the absurd combination OF wax
| ing thoughts, and with slur OF IN
donation you may say: 1t Is only
dream" but God has honored the
dream by making it the avenue
through which again and again lie
| has marched upon the human soul,
decided the fate of nations and
changed the course of the worlds his
tory. God appeared in a 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 a 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 decapitation; to
Pharaoh, showing him first the seven
| plenty years and then the seven
famjne-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 warrior, under
the figure of a barley cake shifting
down tent, encouraging Gideon in
his battle against the Midianites; to
| NebuchadneZZar, under the figure of
broken image and a hewn-down
tree, foretelling the overthrow of His
power; to Joseph of the New Testa-
ment, announcing the birth of Christ
in his own household, and again bid
ding him fly from Herodic persecu-
tons; 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 1 will
| try to answer. You ask me if l be-
lieye in dreams. My answer is, do,
but all l 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, never
theless, to be satisfied.
With 90 guidebooks to tell you how
to get to New York or Pittsburg or
London or Glasgow or Manchester do
you want a n ght 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 guidebook, this mag
nificent directory, we ought to be sat
| lstied. | have more faith in a decision
to which | come when | 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 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. l dreamed it, If it
turns out different from the night
vision, they say: well, dreams go
| by contraries." 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.
| ~ t1IieS OUT OF lUU, IN QlfectlOnS 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
| Remark the Second-tn 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 a
| type of death, and then the soul
spreads its wing and never sleeps. 1t
leaps the Atlantic ocean and mingles
in scenes 5000 miles away. 1t travels
great reaches of time, flashes back so
years, and the octogenarian is a boy
again in his fathers house. If the
soul, before it has entirely broken its
chain of flesh, can do all this, how far
can it leap, what circles can it cut,
! when it is fully liberated? Every
| dream, whether agreeable or harass-
ing, whether sunshiny or tempestu-
|