Dreams And Their Meaning
The Bible speaks of dreams as being sometimes prophetic, or suggestive
of future events.
This belief has prevailed in all ages and countries, and there are
numerous modern examples, apparently authenticated, which would appear
to favor this hypothesis.
The interpretation of dreams was a part of the business of the
soothsayers at the royal courts of Egypt, Babylon and other ancient
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nations.
Dreams and visions have attracted the attention of mankind of every age
and nation. It has been claimed by all nations, both enlightened and
heathen, that dreams are spiritual revelations to men; so much so, that
their modes of worship have been founded upon the interpretation of
dreams and visions. Why should we discard the interpretation of dreams
while our mode of worship, faith and knowledge of Deity are founded upon
the interpretation of the dreams and visions of the prophets and seers
of old.
Dreams vividly impressed upon the mind are sure to be followed by some
event.
We read in the Holy Scripture the revelation of the Deity to His chosen
people, through the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, afterward,
that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and the handmaids in
those days will I pour out My Spirit. (Joel ii, 28.)
Both sacred and profane history contain so many examples of the
fulfilment of dreams that he who has no faith in them must be very
skeptical indeed.
Hippocrates says that when the body is asleep the soul is awake, and
transports itself everywhere the body would be able to go; knows and
sees all that the body could see or know were it awake; that it touches
all that the body could touch. In a word, it performs all the actions
that the body of a sleeping man could do were he awake.
A dream, to have a significance, must occur to the sleeper while in
healthy and tranquil sleep. Those dreams of which we have not a vivid
conception, or clear remembrance, have no significance.
Those of which we have a clear remembrance must have formed in the mind
in the latter part of the night, for up to that time the faculties of
the body have been employed in digesting the events of the day.