¹⁴ For GOD SPEAKETH once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. ¹⁵ IN A DREAM, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; ¹⁶ Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, ¹⁷ THAT HE MAY WITHDRAW MAN FROM HIS PURPOSE, and hide pride from man. ¹⁸ HE KEEPETH BACK HIS SOUL FROM THE PIT, and his life from perishing by the sword. –Job 33:14-18 (KJV)

Sometimes the great realities of the coming judgment and of the world of doom are brought out and impressed upon the mind with overwhelming force by means of dreams. When this is the case, who shall say that the hand of the Lord is not in it? A striking instance of a dream in which the hand of the Lord may be seen, is related by President Edwards. One of his neighbors, an intemperate man, dreamed that he died and went to hell. I will not attempt to relate here the circumstances that according to his dream occurred there. Suffice it to say that he obtained permission to return to earth on probation for one year, and was told distinctly that if he did not reform within one year, he must come back again. Upon this he awaked, under most solemn impressions of the dreadful realities of the sinner’s hell. That very morning he went to see his pastor, Pres. Edwards, who said to him–“This is a solemn warning from God to your soul. You must give heed to it and forsake your sins, or you are a ruined man for eternity.” The man made very solemn promises. When he had retired, Edwards opened his journal and made an entry of the principal facts;–the dream, the conversation, and of course the date of these events. The inebriate reformed and ran well for a time; attended church and seemed serious; but long before the year came around, he relapsed, returned to his cups, and ultimately, in a fit of intoxication opened a chamber door in a shop which led down an outside stairway–pitched headlong and broke his neck. Pres. Edwards turned to his journal and found that the one year from the date of his dream came round that very night, and the man’s appointed time was up! –Charles Finney