CHAPTER XVIII.

The Same Subject Continued-Angel Visits Common Before the Advent of Messiah—The Holy Ghost Became the Medium of Communication after That-He Can Instruct us when we are Awake or Asleep-A Remarkable Dream-The Jews Taught by Prophecies-Heathen by Dreams and Mental Impressions-The Creatiani-Probable Origin of that TheoryNeither of the Popular Views on this Subject Sustained by the Bible-The Hypothesis of a Continued Creation of Human Souls Considered.

BEFORE passing away from the "divers manners" in which God speaks to His creature man, I desire to submit a few more reflections on that interesting subject.

In the early ages of the world, it appears to have been very common for God to send His angelic messengers, in the bodily form of man, to instruct individuals in things concerning their personal interest. This method of communication was, most likely, continued until Messiah came and informed his people that the Holy Ghost would, in future, give them all the information which might from time to time become necessary. Since then, we (of Christian countries, at least) have probably had no such angel visits as had Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have a friend, who loves us better than a brother, who is always at hand; and of whom we may take counsel in all matters pertaining to our devotional duties and spiritual well-being, whenever we sufficiently feel the need of his help. He can interpret all Scripture, and will at all times instruct us as far as our necessities require.

He can visit us in our waking or sleeping hours, just as the nature of the kindly counsel, encouragement, or warning he may have for us requires, and so that, whether

asleep or awake, we will be wholly unconscious of his divine presence.

I do not wish to be considered, as were the Athenians, “in all things too superstitious." Nor can I consent to omit a sacred duty, for fear of personal injustice from erroneous opinions which others may form concerning myself.

I assure you, kind reader, that I have never seen a ghost, and that I entertain not the least fear, or hope that I ever will, while I look through these physical eyes. I have never been bewitched (in the popular sense of the term), nor have I any fear of witches, or of the devil himself, while Christ is my friend.

For a dream book, I feel no more respect than does the veriest atheist that Satan ever deceived. But, while all this is true, I can not say that God never visits men, or does not instruct them in dreams or visions of the night.

That God communicated to men information of great value in the olden time, in dreams, the sacred writers affirm too distinctly to admit of any doubt. And I know of no good reason why he should not do so yet.

While I doubt not that the vulgar notions of the value of dream books and dreams are based on ignorance and superstitious fear, I am well satisfied that God does sometimes instruct us in dreams, in matters of individual interest, at the present time.

Persons are sometimes said to dream that certain events transpire at places distant from them, and afterward to learn that their dreams were neither more nor less than precisely what did occur, including time, place, and every minute circumstance connected therewith.

We frequently hear also, or read, of dreams which excite fear or hope, as the case may be, and of subsequent occurrences so wonderful as to look very much like the dreams were sent by providence as premonitions of their approach. In some instances, too, such reports come so well authenticated as to command our serious consideration, if not to require implicit belief.

Some years since, the presiding judge of one of the superior court circuits of this State, and who is Wrightly

esteemed as one of Georgia's most gifted sons, experienced one of the class first mentioned, and which is worth preserving in the most durable form. He was, and is, a man distinguished no less for his Christian humility than legal lore, and deserves the cognomen "Christian lawyer."

At the time referred to, his custom was to preach the Gospel to the poor on Sabbath, and then preside in court during the week. He was then holding one of his distant courts, perhaps ninety to one hundred miles from home, and in a section of country which has not yet been penetrated by railroads; and had been absent from home about three weeks. When he left, his wife was complaining a little of feeling unwell, but was up and going about the house, and was not under medical treatment.

One night, wearied with his judicial labors, he slept soundly, but dreamed most distinctly, that sitting upon the bench where he usually sat, he looked out of the window at his back, and saw coming up over the hill in the distance a remarkably large gray horse, that he usually rode, with his servant Henry (then a slave) upon him; and that he rode up to the window near him and said: "Master, mistress is dead!" He awoke in much sorrow, and was troubled for some hours. But, on the next day, case after case had drawn his attention, and the dream, and its present effects, had passed from his mind. About 3 o'clock in the evening, turning casually, and casting his eye out of the window, he saw the gray horse and the boy just rising the hill, as he had seen so distinctly in his dream; and the boy went up to the window and delivered precisely the heart-rending message of which he had been notified in the visions of the preceding night: "Master, mistress is dead!"

The combined effect of that sad intelligence, and of the miraculous way in which it had first been communicated to him, was overwhelming. The judge was perfectly unmanned. He could not utter a word. No one else in the court room knew what had occurred. Suffused in tears, he walked down from his seat, passed through the aston

ished crowd that was in the court house at the time, and

went to his room in the hotel. He there wrote a hurried note to the clerk, stating the cause, and ordering the court adjourned. His feelings were awful. The wife who had been the love, light, and life of his youth, and the pride of his early manhood, was gone! snatched suddenly away by the unrelenting hand of death, and in his absence, denying him so much as the melancholy pleasure of bathing her cold brow with his tears. Still he had the most extraordinary assurance that Christ was his friend. For none but a messenger from heaven could, at that time and place, have known, or so informed him, that his beloved wife had gone to the world of spirits, and that he was a widower and his children orphans. I would gladly give the name of the distinguished gentleman referred to, but knowing his modesty, I am unwilling to do so without his consent.

Having served as a member of the United States Congress before the war, he is well and favorably known to many persons in all the States, as he is to all who read the current history of the times in Georgia, and, therefore, more importance would be attached to that wonderful occurrence, if it were known on whose authority its verity rests. It was first related to me by the judge, soon after the death of his wife; and in that peculiar way in which none but a Christian man can talk under such trying circumstances, and in a manner in which he will only express himself to one whom he esteems as his personal friend and brother in Christ, who can sympathize with him in his bereavement, and appreciate his excitement. He left no more doubt on my mind, as to the truth of every word he said, than I would have entertained if it had all been my own painful experience.

I have reported this case with such care, for this good reason: If it stood alone, it would prove, to the satisfaction of all who admit that it is true, the position assumed, that God does, in this age, by His Holy Spirit, reveal to men facts which He desires they should know in dreams. One well-authenticated case of this sort is worth more than a thousand which rest upon mere rumor, and which we may suspect as being nothing more than the produc

tions of the fruitful imaginations of as many superstitious. simpletons.

The vague and discordant views of the pre-existence of the soul, which were entertained by heathen philosophers, and which were embraced by many of the Christian fathers, although not satisfactory or full, were yet sufficient to teach them that the soul was the older and most valuable part of man. They were, therefore, sufficiently informed of the necessity which rested upon them to take care of their future interest. To that extent, and no further, it appears to be, and to have been, the will of God to instruct all men, of every age and condition of life. And, as little as we may be inclined to believe it, we have no sufficient reason for believing that the lights which were shed upon the Jews, in the form of prophecies, were of any more practical value to individuals than were the teachings enjoyed by heathens, and which they received chiefly in the way of mental impressions and dreams. Prophetic revelation is the most valuable to our race, considered as one family; because it is durable in its nature, and was designed ultimately to be known to all nations.

The Jews being the representative member of our family, the prophecies were originally delivered to them. We should not, therefore, despise, or even lightly esteem the worth of the opinions of those great philosophers.

Better would it be for us, to weigh well their views and compare our own on kindred subjects with theirs. We know the Jews did sometimes err in the construction and application of the prophecies; otherwise they would all have accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah. It is, therefore, possible that we may be wrong in some of our notions, and that the heathen may have been right in their views of the same subjects. Their Creator and teacher was ours also, and they were taught in the same school that we were, although in different text books. Some boys learn much faster in school than others, and understand more perfectly what they pass over. But, would it not be very remarkable, indeed, if two brothers should be sent to the same school, and that presided over by the