Dream of Sister Robinson, of the Isle of Man

At the time this dream was given (May 10, 1842) there was a great religious excitement

amongst the different sects in the island. She and her husband returning home from a meeting, had to pass a Primitive Methodist preaching held in the Wellington Hall. The sermon was finished, and the after-prayer or revival meeting was at its height, when sister Robinson felt an anxious desire to go in and see the meeting. The people appeared to be very ardent and zealous, and our sister after her return home, was very wishful to know if there was no reward for them hereafter, as their sincerity and labor seemed to be great, according to the light they had. She retired to rest and dreamt the following dream:-

She thought that Elder Reid came from a journey, to her house, fatigued and wanting supper, but would have nothing but eggs, and having none in the house, she went to market to purchase some. There she saw many crowds of people collected together. She first went to a young woman that had eggs to sell, who had them covered with a clean white cloth; but after taking off the cloth and looking at the eggs, she perceived that they were all spotted and speckled, and apparently had rings round them. She asked if they were the only eggs she had, and the woman said, yes. She then went to six or seven other persons who had eggs to sell, and remarked each lot covered with a clean cloth, the same as the first, but found them all spotted and speckled like the first. She then saw a person dressed in the habit of the Society of Friends who attracted her attention: he, also, was an egg seller. She accosted him as she had the others; he stated he had eggs to dispose of, the best in the fair, but when she lifted up the cloth and discovered them to be like the others, she was angry with him, and told him she thought they were wild bird eggs, and that he must be selling them to deceive the people. She then asked him if there were no white eggs in the market; he told her there were, at the same time pointing to a man on the opposite side of the fair, but telling her that he who sold them was not considered altogether right in his mind, and those who purchased of him were considered the same. She replied she did not care what was said, for she would have white eggs if she could get them. She then went to this man and asked if he had got white eggs, he said yes, and he had them under clean straw, and not a clean cloth as the others; she enquired [inquired] how he sold them; he replied he did not sell them but gave them, and she might take as many as she wanted. She stated that she waned a dozen, which he directed her to count out; she did so as she thought, but he perceiving that she had only taken eleven, pointed out the error, and told her take another; she did take up another, and underneath was a pamphlet entitled "Mormon Delusion," and he told her that if she would take the pamphlet and read it, it would give her a correct description of the religious sects and parties, and that it was written by the Rev. Robert Aitken, formerly of the Isle of Man, but then at St. John the Evangelist's church at Liverpool. He told her that the speckled eggs were representation of the different churches of christendom, none of which were recognized as the pure church by the Father as his church and kingdom, and that the small white eggs were representatives of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She returned home with the eggs, and rejoiced to reflect that amongst the many eggs sold in the market, only one persou [person] had white eggs, and she had got some of them without money and without price.

We would reply Mr. Aitken never did write a pamphlet entitled "Mormon Delusion," but he preached a sermon at the opening of Zion Chapel, Waterloo Road, London, on Sunday Dec. 2nd, 1838, from which we make the following extract, illustrative of the instruction she received from the person who gave her the eggs.

There has been the revelation of the man of sin; and there has been, as foretold, the mystery of iniquity in full operation; but a temple of God, or church of Christ, there has not been, and there is not at this present moment; else the glory of the Lord would be there, and the gathering of the nations would be there, and the riches of the princes of the earth would be there, and the gifts of the Spirit would be there. God hath not a dwelling place on Zion; there is no treasury-house to deposit his riches; there is no banqueting-room, to manifest his glory.

My beloved hearers, can I have any interest in making matters worse than they really are? Is there any sorrow, and I have not my part in it? Is there any grief which I do not share? Do you ask me if these things are so? Is God then left without a witness? No, blessed be God, he has many individual witnesses to his truth, as well as to his saving power. The very churches that are now in existence, and that most certainly are not built upon the foundation stone, which is Christ, are witnesses for the truth of God. Every one of them appears to have fastened upon a single, though an important truth; and each sect and party has held up the individual truth which it has separately chosen for its real foundation stone, to the churches and to the world. Thus the very wickedness and folly of the existing churches have been overruled by ;the providence of God,

and have become outstanding witnesses to many of the great truths of God. Thus, although none of them is God's temple, or the depository of God's gift, or the resting place of his glory-because none of them is erected upon the foundation stone, and according to God's pattern-yet all of them put together, manifest the excellency of many important truths which the church of Christ will exhibit in their fulness [fullness] when it is established upon the earth.

After enumerating the peculiarities of the various leading sects of the day, which he considers as consistent with the principles of eternal truth, he thus continues:

O, my God, my God! I have, according to the light which thou hast given me, glanced at every would-be christian church of the day, and I see all is of man's building; and although each of them is, to some extent, promoting thy glory, by exhibiting one or more of thy blessed truths, yet each of them is marring thy glory, and is only rubbish, which must be removed before thou canst lay thy foundation stone in Zion. Every living stone, in each of the churches, is so debaubed with filth, and so broken as to its jointing, that methinks thou must go to the quarry of nature, hard though it be, rather than to the old, battered, and defiled materials that are scattered throughout the churches.

My beloved hearers, my soul is in heaviness, and what am I to do-to build? I am willing, but where am I to build? I see what ought to be, but how to forward the purpose of God in temple-work, I know not-I know how to go about the conversion of a sinner; and success has proved that, in this, I am not mistaken; but where is the foundation of the temple to be laid? When shall the Lord my God discover his little hill of Zion? Do; any of you ask me, in what condition is your own little sect and party, my friends? I am ashamed of the terms, sect and party; but since things must have names, names they must have. My reply is a short but painful one. Some few who are connected with me are weeping and groaning, like myself, day and night, because there is no resting place for the ark of the Lord: because there is no living temple for the manifestation of the glory of our God, Many hundreds of others are mere babes in Christ, newly begotten of the Lord; like little children they are joyful in their God, rejoicing in their first love; and they are not yet ripe for bearing the burden of the Lord; and the remainder are neither more nor less than the Methodists, and I have taught them to be so. O my God, help me, for man cannot. Man has not brought me into this dilemma, and man cannot take me out of it. This much I have reason to be thankful for. I am not in a humor to be led away by any foolish fantasy of man, or of satan's devising. I will, by God's help, have clear direction from God, and solid gospel ground, for every step; but stand still I will not-stand still I dare not, unless it be to wait the direction of my God; and if the road lead to the stake, by the help of my God, I will take it. I will have temple-building work, and temple-building blessings, else I will fail in the attempt. This morning I was blessed by the application of this truth to my mind-"God has chosen the little hill of Zion." The mountains and the hills around leaped with rage, because the Lord made choice of the little hill; and I have felt convinced ever since, that if some score or two of devoted christians, filled with the spirit, were to come together, and be of one accord, and cry unto God day and night, God would come to Zion; God would lay the foundation stone, or rather, build them upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the head of the corner. God would restore temple-building gifts, and the temple-building blessings. God would raise a church that would become a praise in the earth; and through that church, the earth would soon be filled with the glory of the Lord.

That all of you may have a clear apprehension of what is wanted-yea, of what is promised; of what a christian church must be, before Christ can be said to reign in Zion, I shall give you a very slight sketch of the promised Bible church. And, oh, what a picture presents itself to my mind! The blessed Jesus is the first stone, and the alone foundation. The apostles and prophets, the second row this building, were like the foundation, and had their purity, their wisdom and power, by virtue of their union with him! and the remaining stones must be like unto these, else, built upon the same foundation they never can be. The whole power of the church must be from Christ-and it must be like unto these, else, built upon the same foundation they never can be. The whole power of the church must be from Christ-and it must be nothing less than the power of Christ. Every member of the church must be like Christ; and the life, and purpose, and policy of the church, must be that of the precious foundation. Such a Zion the Lord will build, such a church the Lord must have; and he will bring his treasures into it; and his gifts as well as his graces shall be there; and he will gloriously manifest his presence and his power there. Yea, he will glorify the house of his glory; and by such a church he will subjugate the kingdoms of the earth; and through the instrumentality of its members, the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God. O! ye that sigh for the temple-building blessings, begin the work of repentance. Repent! repent! because ye have usurped the prerogatives

of God! Ye have had ministers of your own choosing, instead of those of God's sending; ye have had forms of government of you own devising, instead of bringing the lawgiver to Zion by your prayers; ye have had your own way in every thing, and ye have sought your own glory and not the glory of God. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"

We have been much astonished at the sentiments contained in the foregoing extracts, at the light which the individual has had of what is truth; and we cannot but lament that his own course has led him, not to the fulness [fullness] of the gospel and the kingdom of God, but to become associated with one of the very churches he condemns as having no claim upon the title of the Church of Christ; but so it is, let the light of truth break in upon the human mind, and let the individual after rejoicing in the light for a season reject it, and who shall describe the darkness in which he is involved! but while such is the course of man, let the saints rejoice in the truth of God, knowing that it is their privilege to be associated with the kingdom of the Redeemer, to have their minds illuminated by his spirit, to judge all things, and to be instrumental in raising a temple for his glory, and in the building up of his people, in order that they may receive the dominion, and reign with him at his coming.-When we read the pointed facts stated by the Rev. gentleman whose words we have quoted, and read his lamentations and mournings because the Lord has no house upon the earth and kingdom of his own organization which he can acknowledge and bless as such, our own feelings are those of gratitude and thanksgiving to our heavenly Father; in the first place for an existence in the flesh at the time when he has commenced his glorious work; and secondly that we have been favoured [favored] with hearing the gospel of the kingdom, and especially that we have been led to the obedience of faith, so as to realize for ourselves that assurance and that spirit which can be enjoyed only by obeying the precepts and keeping the commandments of the King of Zion. Does the Lord need a temple in which to manifest his glory and bestow his blessings upon his people? we know such an object shall be speedily consummated.-Must the nations of the earth be gathering to Zion? it is ours to behold the hand of the Lord manifested in this also-to behold the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, rolling onward in majesty; and while the nations of the earth are perplexed, and a general and almost universal paralysis seems to affect the sources of prosperity, it is our privilege to be connected with a growing kingdom, destined never to be destroyed, but, like a phenix [phoenix], rise from the ashes of a world, to become irradiated and adorned with the splendours [splendors] of heaven, and to repose in the light of the presence of God.

*** Elders James Higbee, jur. and Z. H. Brewster, of Springfield, Sangamo county, have been cut off from membership, by the authorities of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

JAMES ADAMS, President.

*** Should any elders be passing through, or near, Fredericksburgh, Virginia, they are particularly requested, by Elder Francis H. Bell, to call and visit the small branch of the church in that place.