If this account had been found in any book but the Bible, not one person in a thousand would have believed it. It destroys the attributes of the God of all worlds, gives the lie to his foreknowledge and immutability, and then invests him with all the weakness, folly, and mutability of poor, frail, erring man. With respect to the dreams and visions, of which we find so many accounts in the Old and New Testaments, they are spoken of by the prophets as being the medium of divine inspiration. One of them thus expresses himself:—“_It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old mm shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions._” (Joel, chapter ii.) Now we know that dreams are not the result of divine inspiration. When we read that an angel appeared to a man of God, no more can be made of it than this:—the priest, or pretended prophet, dreamed that an angel appeared to him, and conversed with him. I have many times dreamed of seeing my first wife, who died upwards of forty years ago. If I were to insist that the dream was a reality, it would be considered by my friends that my mind was disordered; in short, that I was insane. From dreams, we can obtain no correct ideas of realities. If persons, who are much subject to dreams, were to imagine that their dreams pointed to realities, they would be all their lifetime in pursuit of shadows. Dreams and visions would be very uncertain channels for the conveyance of divine revelations, for the supposed angel might be the servant of the Devil instead of a messenger from heaven. The writings in the Old Testament which are called prophecies, generally relate to the Jewish nation. How are we to know that they are prophecies? In order that there may be no uncertainty with respect to a prophet’s pretensions, he should foretell something to come to pass in the lifetime of the persons to whom he declares the prophecy, stating the precise time and place, so that when fulfilled, it should be a million to one against its being the result of guess-work. It would then carry with it a convincing proof of being the result of divine inspiration. To show the dependence that can be placed on prophecies, we may refer to the Millerite delusion. The pretensions and extravagances of that sect were based on the prophecies of Daniel. I have heard many preachers, of acknowledged learning and talent, attempt to explain Daniel’s prophecies with regard to the time of the second advent; but they generally differed in their views. About the year 1803, a preacher in London, (England,) of first rate abilities, told his congregation, a very large one, to keep, in mind the year 1833, for that he had, after the most laborious calculations, arrived at the conclusion that about that period, signs and wonders would indicate the near approach of him who is to come again in _power and great glory_.