spirit of Samuel, from whom he learnt his fate. And because he had taken this course, and "enquired not of the Lord; therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse" (1 Sam. xxviii. 6-20; 1 Chron. x. 14.) communi The early patriarchs, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Direct Jacob, had familiar speech with God. Even their wives could cation with directly communicate with him. Eve personally defended her- God. self when God accused her of disobedience. Sarah did so, by a prevarication, when God had observed her laughing at the idea his promise had conveyed to her, that in her old age she should have a child; and Rebekah questioned God about her own condition, and received the reply that she would bear twins. "Two nations," she was told, "are in thy womb." Even the wicked Cain had this personal access to God, and was able to secure from him exemption from the penalty for his crime. In later times Moses had constant intercourse with God in a most unceremonial manner. "The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Ex. xxxiii. 11), conversing with him "mouth to mouth" (Num. xii. 8). There is also an instance where, apparently, the Israelites were admitted to communicate with God in an informal and direct manner, without any medium. Saul had been chosen king by lot, but "when they sought him he could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the Lord further if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff" (1 Sam. x. 21, 22). Then there were frequent visitations in dreams. This is Visitation described to be an appointed method of communication between old TestaGod and man. "God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man per- ment. ceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction (Job xxxiii. 14-16). The prophets again are pointed to as the approved channels for such intercourse. "If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream" (Num. xii. 6). In the latter days the capacity was to be largely extended, and the promise is said to have been realized, just after the death of Jesus, among his followers. "This," it is said, "is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts ii. 16, 17). But, practically, this method of communication was resorted to without the intervention of any acknowledged medium such as a prophet, and took effect even with persons not worshipping the true God. The intercourse was thus quite informal and promiscuous. The first recorded dream is that of Abimelech, the Philistine king of Gerar. Imposed upon by Abraham into thinking that the aged Sarah was still unmarried, he had taken possession of her, when God came to him "in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.” Abimelech pro tested his innocence, pleading the deception put upon him, and God, in reply, absolved him. In this special way the chastity of Sarah was preserved (Gen. xx. 1-6). The dreamer here was a heathen king. The next so dealt with was the patriarch Jacob, and he had two divine dreams of a very dissimilar description. The first was of heaven, there appearing to him a ladder of immense length "set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven," and up and down this, "behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it" (Gen. xxviii. 12). His other dream was altogether of earth, earthy. It related to the procreation of cattle, in which "the angel of God" spake unto him and pointed out how all the males were "ringstraked, speckled, and grisled," a revelation which put into his head a device whereby he was enabled to defraud Laban extensively in the partition of the cattle between them (Gen. xxxi. 10-12). After this, Laban, who was an idolater, is visited by God in a dream, and warned not to molest Jacob, who was decamping with what he had thus appropriated (Gen. xxxi. 24). Then follows a godly dreamer, namely Joseph. He has two dreams, which implied that his father, mother, and brethren were to render him obeisance (Gen. xxxvii. 6-10). After this, the chief butler and chief baker of the king of Egypt, that is idolaters, are visited with prophetic dreams, which imported that the one was to be restored to favour, and the other hanged (Gen. xl. 1-22). King Pharaoh, also an idolater, had two prophetic dreams, both indicating the same events, namely, years of plenty to be followed by years of famine (Gen. xli. 17). A Midianite had a dream about a cake of barley overthrowing a tent, which a fellow Midianite was empowered to see applied to a particular person, namely to Gideon, a Jewish leader, signifying that he was to overthrow their host (Jud. vii. 13, 14). Then we pass to Solomon, the great Jewish king, to whom" the Lord appeared" in a dream, promising him wisdom and riches (1 King iii. 5-15). The person next visited in this manner was the idolatrous king Nebuchadnezzar. He had two dreams, one relating to monarchies extending from his time to the end of all things, and the other to his own temporary downfall and degradation to the condition of a beast, when he "was driven from men, and he did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws” (Dan. ii. 31-45; iv. 10-33). The prophet Daniel had afterwards a dream, which was the repetition of Nebuchadnezzar's first dream, but with different imagery (Dan. vii. 2-14). were : by dreams. These are the dreams of the Old Testament. In the New Visitation Testament Joseph, the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, New Testa had several dreams. He had married Mary as a maiden, but ment. found her to be with child, and was about to put her away, when "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. i. 18-20). Then the wise men from the East who had come to make their offerings to the infant Jesus "warned of God in a dream" not to "return to Herod," that is to Jerusalem, and so they went home by "another way" (Matt. ii. 12). After this "the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream," warning him to flee with his family from Herod. to Egypt, where he was to remain until God should "bring him word." Accordingly, "when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt," telling him of the event, and that he might return to the land of Israel. But coming there, he discovered that Herod's son was ruling in his stead, and he was afraid to proceed, on which God rectified his former instructions by telling him in a dream to "turn aside into the parts of Galilee" (Matt. ii. 13-22). Lastly, we have a heathen female, namely Pilate's wife, suffer Fallacious dreams. Visions. ing many things in a dream connected with Jesus, of whose innocence she consequently assured her husband Pilate, when seated in judgment upon him (Matt. xxvii. 19). But there was a liability that fallacious dreams should be put about. "If," according to the rule already pointed out, "there should arise a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams," who should say, "Let us go after other gods," he was not to be listened to, with whatever wonders he might support his testimony (Deut. xiii. 1-3). And "false prophets," who might say, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed," trying to make God's people "forget his name by their dreams," he would repudiate, saying, "I sent them not, nor commanded them" (Jer. xxiii. 25-32; xxvii. 9, 10; xxix. 8, 9; Zech. x. 2). From dreams we pass to visions. Old Testa- the persons particularly favoured. ment. Here the prophets were "If there be a prophet among you," says God, "I, the Lord, will make myself known on which "he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son he hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open;" and then he gives forth a prophecy of the prosperity awaiting the children of Israel (Num. xxiv., 1-9). Samuel, when only a child, had a vision, in which the Lord repeatedly called to him, and after gaining his attention. denounced to him his superior and protector, the priest Eli (1 Sam. iii. 1-15). The prophet Nathan had a vision in which God instructed him to inform David that his house, or temple, was to be built, not by him, but by his son, "the throne" of whose "kingdom" he would "establish for ever' (2 Sam. vii. 1-17). Job, in awe-inspiring terms, described a a visitation he had. "In thoughts, from the visions of the night, (he said,) when deep sleep falleth on men. Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up." An image was before him, but he could not discern its form, and then he gave the utterances of a voice which be heard (Job iv. 12-21). Among the prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel were prominently visited. Ezekiel had visions of heavenly glory. He saw an amber-coloured fiery cloud, out of the midst of which came four creatures, each with four wings and four faces, the faces being those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, and with cloven feet. These darted about like flashes of lightning. Each was accompanied by a wheel "so high" that it was "dreadful," and the "rings," or rims, of these wheels, "were full of eyes round about." The wheels moved as they moved, "for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels." The wings of the creatures created a noise "like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host." Over their heads was a firmament "as the colour of the terrible crystal," and above the firmament was the likeness of a sapphire throne, on which was the likeness of a man who was of the colour of amber fire. This," it is said, was the appearance. Ezekiel, at this awful of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." spectacle, fell flat on his face, but was raised, and then had to open his mouth" and eat "a roll of a book," written inside and outside with "lamentations, and mourning, and woe," representing messages he was to communicate to the rebellious |