I have no doubt that in every generation there are thousands of Christians who have had wonderful dreams of Jesus or of the heavenly world. I have met with many of God’s children who have had gracious visitations of heavenly truth and heavenly beings in their sleep. For various reasons such experiences are seldom related, except to confidential friends. There are many more wonderful things taking place in the lives of God’s children than the world at large, or even the Church, know anything about. God is just as really our God when we are asleep as when we are awake. He never for one moment lets go his hold upon those who are entirely in his hands. The Holy Spirit holds all the faculties of the mind in his power, and he has absolute right to all the avenues of the soul, both sleeping and waking, and in all ages he has sent special dreams for the enlightenment, or encouragement, or special guidance of his children.

Four times in my life I have dreamed of seeing Jesus. These dreams have made indelible impressions upon my mind. Some of them I do not feel at liberty to relate, but all of them I found afterwards to be in harmony with certain portions of Scripture, and the things which I saw and heard in my dreams were especially helpful to me at the time, and afterwards.

In January, 1896, while in Indianapolis, Indiana, I had a dream of Jesus which I have often felt impelled to relate. I dreamed I entered the door of a large, plain room, containing no furniture except a low bed in the farthest corner, upon which I saw a man lying with a pale face. The instant my eyes fell upon him I said to myself, “That is Jesus, but why is he lying in bed?” and immediately the words were mentally repeated to me, “He was crucified in weakness.” I instantly fell on my knees in the door, and to my left there seemed to be a few of the disciples holding a prayer-meeting, and John the Baptist was leading in prayer; but my eye was so riveted on the Person lying in bed, that I did not turn my head to the other part of the room to see the disciples. I will say here that the face of the man in bed, was the same face which I had seen in my other dreams of Jesus, some fifteen years previous. It was a face which I have never seen one just like it, and in all the paintings of Jesus, I have only seen one resemble or in any way correspond with the one I saw in my dream; it was a face of sadness, but of inexpressible tenderness and sympathy; there seemed to be a soft, bright, purple tint in it. As I fell on my knees, there came over my whole spirit a sacred fear, and at the same time an inexpressible attraction to go to the One I saw. My feelings resembled what philosophers speak of, as two kinds of attraction, that of cohesion and that of gravity; the sense of holy dread made me almost afraid to move, and yet the sense of attraction seemed irresistible. The Person I saw uttered no audible word, but spoke to me mentally, and articulated his thoughts in my mind more distinctly and powerfully than any pronounced words could have done. He bade me to come to him. I went about half way from the door to the bed, and then stopped under a deep sense of holy dread, but with my eye fastened upon his face, with a charmed, uncontrollable gaze. He then extended his hand out over the side of the bed, and beckoned me to come closer, with a slight smile upon his features, but the mental articulation “Come closer” was uttered with a peculiar emphasis which seemed to possess my whole mind. I immediately went forward on my knees to the bed, and then sat on the side of the bed, and then under the sweet, persuasive influence, I leaned myself back upon his bosom, with his left arm under me. Song of Solomon 2:6. As I did so there was an indescribable sensation passed through my whole being. It seemed to me that the soul of my Savior extended out from his body and passed through my soul and body, like the sensation of warm, sweet water; every atom of my body seem pervaded with a sweet, hot sensation, and at the same time, a bright flame of a soft, white, cream color enveloped my body about two feet thick. I can never describe the mental and spiritual sensations of that moment. It seemed that my whole being, body, soul and spirit, felt a sensation of absolute satisfaction.

There was not a desire, or wish, or thought, or recollection, or sensation, of my whole being, which was not filled with inexpressible contentment and bliss. My memory was so filled that I could recollect nothing but Christ, my imagination so flooded I could conceive of nothing but Christ, my affections so dilated I could love nothing but what was of Christ, my understanding so illuminated I could think of nothing but Christ. He seemed to fill to the uttermost extent, every appetite, affection, desire, thought, recollection, imagination, so that there was no room for even a ripple to pass through it. As I lay in that state, the thought was distinctly uttered in my mind, “This is just the way I shall feel in heaven.” I lay in that condition apparently five minutes, and then felt an impression it was time to go. As I got off the bed I mentally asked the Savior to give me some gift of his love. He put his right hand around to his left side, where I saw the wound that the spear had made, and seemed to take something from the open wound, though it was invisible and intangible, but he held it between his thumb and fore-finger in the right hand. I held my right hand and he seemed to deposit the gift in the palm of my hand, and my fingers closed over it. Almost immediately I was horrified to see a lot of vermin crawling on the floor, and mentally called his attention to it. I thought he rose with great alacrity and began killing the vile things, and then he spoke to me mentally, saying, “The gift I put in your hand was the power to kill these same things,” so I at once began crushing them. Then there was opened up in my mind a very clear apprehension of the types of the animals and insects. I seemed to understand intuitively, that certain animals, as swine, goats, bears, tigers, peacocks and serpents, were distinctive types of certain kinds of sins. And that the insects, flies, mosquitos, bugs and vermin were distinct types of the little meannesses, jealousies, envies, harsh words, self-conceit and narrowness and over forwardness, and various other faults which are among the people of God. And it was solemnly impressed upon my mind that Jesus wanted me to set forth a type of spiritual life and instruction, which would not only save men from the great and well classified sins, but a type of self-abnegation and love and Christ-likeness of spirit which would kill out the petty meannesses which we see most everywhere among good people, and which often manifest themselves among Christian workers in religious meetings. With this thought I woke, but for days and weeks the dream lingered with me in great vividness. And though many months have passed away, that face I saw in that dream, and the mental articulation of that spiritual voice in my mind, and the sensation I had reposing on his bosom are still distinct in my memory. I have no doubt that many believers have had similar dreams, and I would not relate this except for the purpose of urging all who read it to approach just as close as possible for us to get to his heart; there is an infinite welcome in that heart for every yearning soul, and let us see to it that we cultivate a type of piety which not only kills out the beasts of wickedness, but all the little mean insects and faults that mar the Christ-likeness of the soul.