In the Review of April 9, is the vision of Joseph Hoag with remarks from the editor. This reminded us of the wonderful dream of William Miller, and our remarks and notes written seventeen years since and printed in the little paper entitled “The Present Truth,” which we published at Oswego, N. Y., in 1850.
As we have this morning read the dream, given nineteen years ago, and our notes penned two years later, and have looked back over the past seventeen years, we have been led to exclaim, What a remarkable fulfillment! Those who were acquainted with this dream at the time of its first publication, will be glad to call to remembrance the former days; and those who have never seen it, will certainly be interested in its perusal. JAMES WHITE.
REMARKS MADE IN 1850.
The following dream was published in the Advent Herald more than two years since. I then saw that it clearly marked out our past Second Advent experience, and that God gave the dream for the benefit of the scattered flock.
Among the signs of the near approach of the great and terrible day of the Lord, God has placed dreams. See Joel ii, 28–31; Acts ii, 17–20. Dreams may come in three ways; first, “through the multitude of business.” See Eccl. v, 3. Second, those who are under the foul spirit and deception of Satan, may have dreams through his influence. See Deut. xiii, 1–5; Jer. xxiii, 25–28; xxvii, 9; xxix, 8; Zech. x, 2; Jude 8. And third, God has always taught, and still teaches his people more or less by dreams, which come through the agency of angels and the Holy Spirit. Those who stand in the clear light of truth will know when God gives them a dream; and such will not be deceived and led astray by false dreams.
“And he said, Hear now my words; 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. Said Jacob, “The angel of the Lord spake unto me in a dream.” Gen. xxxi, 2. “And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night.” Gen. xxxi, 24. Read the dreams of Joseph [Gen. xxxvii, 5–9,] and then the interesting story of their fulfillment in Egypt. “In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night.”—1 Kings iii, 5. The great image of the second chapter of Daniel was given in a dream, also the four beasts of the seventh chapter. When Herod sought to destroy the infant Saviour, Joseph was warned in a dream to flee into Egypt. Matt. ii, 13.
“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, 17.
The gift of prophecy, by dreams and visions, is here the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and in the last days is to be manifested sufficiently to constitute a sign. It is one of the gifts of the gospel church.
“And he gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Eph. iv, 11, 12.
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets,” &c. 1 Cor. xii, 28. “Despise not prophesyings.” 1 Thess. v, 20. See also Acts xiii, 1; xxi, 9; Rom. xii, 6; 1 Cor. xiv, 1, 24, 39. Prophets or prophesyings are for the edification of the church of Christ. There is no evidence in the word of God that they were to cease before evangelists, pastors and teachers were to cease. But says the objector, “There have been so many false visions and dreams that I can not have confidence in anything of the kind.” It is true that Satan has his counterfeit. He always had false prophets, and certainly we may expect them now in this last hour of deception and triumph. Those who reject such special revelations because the counterfeit exists, may with equal propriety go a little further and deny that God ever revealed himself to man in a dream or a vision, for the counterfeit always existed.
Dreams and visions are the medium through which God has revealed himself to man. Through this medium he spake to the prophets. He has placed the gift of prophecy among the gifts of the gospel church, and has classed dreams and visions with the other signs of the “last days.”
My object in the above remarks has been to remove objections in a Scriptural manner, and prepare the mind of the reader for the following
DREAM.
I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels, diamonds, precious stones, and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket they would wonder, and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table. At this time I began to think the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before; and I felt I should never be able to meet the accountability, for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket; but the more I plead, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and on every piece of furniture in the room. I now saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproached, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine.
I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, and sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins—until they were all excluded from sight. They also tore in pieces my casket, and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that he would send me help. Immediately the door opened, and a man entered the room, when the people left it; and he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows, and began to brush the dirt and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear, for there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. He told me to “fear not” for he would “take care of them.” Then, while he brushed, the dust and rubbish, false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the windows like a cloud, and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment; when I opened them, the rubbish was all gone. The precious jewels, the diamonds, gold and silver coins lay scattered in profusion over all the room. He then placed on the table a casket much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handfuls, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to “come and see.” I looked into the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. They shone with ten times their former glory. I thought they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered them, and trod them in the dust. I saw they were arranged in beautiful order in the casket, every one in its place, without any visible pains of the man who cast them in—I shouted with very joy—and that shout awakened me.
The effect of this on my mind has been extremely consoling and happy.
WM. MILLER.Low Hampton, N. Y. Dec. 3, 1847.
To its catalogue of errors I might add many more, such as the “thousand years” of Rev. xx, 4, 7, in the past, the 144,000 of Rev. xiv, 1, those who “arose and came out of the graves” after Christ’s resurrection, the no-work doctrine, the doctrine of the destruction of all infants, &c.
These errors were so industriously propagated, and urged upon the waiting flock that the time Bro. Miller had the dream, the true jewels were “excluded from sight,” and the words of the prophet were applicable—“And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off,” &c. See Isa. lix 14. At that time there was not an Advent paper in the land that advocated the cause of present truth. The “Day Dawn” was the last to defend the true position of the little flock; but that was a number of months before the Lord gave Bro. Miller this dream; and in its last dying struggle, poured the weary, sighing saints into 1877, then their final deliverance. Alas! alas! No wonder that Bro. Miller in his dream “sat down and wept” over this sad state of things.