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All dream, and each knows what a dream is better than he can be told.

I. THEIR PHILOSOPHY.

1. What originates a dream? Probably it has more causes than one, and different kinds of dreams have different causes. The cause of some may be found in the state of body at the time. The cause of others may be found in something that has made more than ordinary impression on the mind. "A dream," says the wise man, "cometh from a multitude of business."

2. Why do thoughts take such grotesque forms in dreams? The reason may be this, — the mind in sleep is left uncontrolled by the will. If the thought is of an unnatural kind, it will go on producing the unnatural and the monstrous. In dreams the mind is like a vessel without a rudder. The laws of association heave her about in all directions.

II. THEIR USES.

1. They serve to throw some light on our spiritual constitution.

(1) They show the soul's power for involuntary action; action in which the will is not concerned. There are two kinds of involuntary action. In obvious peril, we involuntarily seek safety. In the presence of axiomatical truths we involuntarily believe; in the view of the truly beautiful, we involuntarily admire and love. There is an involuntary action that is wrong. It arises from a thorough infirmity of the will, through the indulgence of the passions, and long habits of sin.

(2) The soul's power for vivid realisation. In dreams the spirit sees the objects with all the vividness of reality. When awake, we see outward objects through our sensations; but the objects which come to us in dreams we see directly face to face.

(3) The soul's power of rapid movement.

(4) The soul's power of uncorporeal action.

(5) The soul's power of moral character.

2. They are sometimes the organs of Divine communication. The subject teaches that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;

WEB: In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed;