| "… I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."—Joel 2:28 |
| Many first-generation
Mormons considered dreams and visions means through which the Divine communicated
to mortal beings. In this regard, they were not unusual for the time. Wilford
Woodruff recorded many dreams that seemed to foretell events or offer metaphorical
interpretations. Additional dreams and visions will be added to this page
as they are encountered in research for other topics. |
| February 1835 |
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Snakes |
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I dreamed the night before, that
we were required to walk in a straight, narrow path; and while following
the path, it led to the door of a house, which was placed in a high wall
that we could not get around. As I opened the door to go through, I saw
the room was filled with large serpents. I entered, and they all coiled
up to jump at me; as they made a spring to bite me, they all fell dead at
my feet, turned black, swelled up, burst open, took fire, and were consumed
before my eyes. |
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before:
presumably before Alexander, a hostile apostate, unexpectedly drops dead.
Wilford Woodruff (h2)
Wilford's journal does
not report this dream. |
| July 12, 1837 |
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Baptizing Uncle Ozem |
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| Dream
of baptizing uncle |
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—12.—I preached in a school
house in West Avon to an attentive congregation; after meeting I baptized
my uncle, Ozem Woodruff, his wife and son, John, in fulfillment of a dream
which I had at ten years of age. |
|
Wilford Woodruff (h2) |
| Vision
of baptizing uncle |
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12th And during
the night at 2 oclock AM. uncle Ozem Woodruff & his houshold believed
the fullness of the everlasting gospel & I led them fourth at the same
hour of the night and baptized them for the remission of their sins, being
three of them viz. Ozem Woodruff, Hannah Woodruff, & John Woodruff,
their Son Glory to God in the Highest for this blessing. The Lord hath given
me the desires of my heart in this thing which is in fulfillment of a vision
given me in 1818. All is now fulfilled. |
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WWJ
1:163. |
| October 12, 1844 |
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Joseph and Emma |
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Brother
Whitmore prays for a dream of Joseph
Joseph: Emma not worthy |
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[Boston] I had Conversation with
Br Whitmore. He related A dream to me as follows: He had prayed to God to
let him see Joseph in a dream. And he fell asleep And dreamed that he saw
the heavens opened and deheld some of the things of eternity. He saw a personage
arise out of the earth, and An Elder informed him that it was Joseph Smith.
Joseph did not speak to him but droped some slips of paper to the ground
from whence he rose. Br Whitmore picked up one of them & read the following
words: (Emma is not worthy of me.) He wished to read the others but the
person with him picked them up & put them in his pocket & did not
let him read them. |
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WWJ
2:473. |
| October
14, 1844 |
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"I spent
the night at Br Phelps, And dreamed of being in the midst of rattle snakes.
I had power to kill them. A few nights previous I saw a monster of a serpent.
Tried to kill me but had no power." |
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WWJ
2:474. |
| December 30, 1844 |
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Joseph and Hyrum relics |
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I was in dreams nearly all of last
night. Saw A large fire, A field of green corn, repaird old tubs to hold
water, ground grain for the Saints Among other things I had an interview
with the Patriarch Hyrum Smith who was martered. He wished me to get a plain
gold ring made of fine gold set a stone in it & put some of his hair
in it & wear it, & also some of Joseph Hair. … |
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WWJ
2:491 |
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A dream on
the night of the 30th Dec 1844 |
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WWJ
2:492. |
| Hyrum
objects to Sidney in council |
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Behold and lo in a dream I was in
Council with the Martered Prophet & Patriarch & the quorum of the
Twelve Apostles in America. I thought we had all got to be ordained for
some purpose. I was called upon by Br Young & another person to assist
in administering the ordinances. In the midst of the Council, Sidney Rigdon
Came in & was objected to by Hyrum Smith. |
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| John
E. Page prevented from speaking |
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I awoke & again fell asleep &
dreamed of being in council with the Twelve & others. I made an address
to them. John E. Page (h)
arose to address the meeting but was stoped by some female & was followed
by Elder Willard Snow |
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| Always
dream on ship, pay little attention |
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I have recorded this dream yet I Pay
but little attention to dreams that I have on ship board for I am nearly
all the while in some dream while asleep on board of the ship. |
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| March
2, 1845 |
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I dreamed last night of seeing two
large snakes coming out of a large tree. Their object seemed to be to bite
me. Soon a third one appeared, but I thought they had no power to harm me.
Soon I met another one which I draged with my foot a long distance in the
road. He tried to bite me. I soon trod on his neck. He run his tongue out,
but I killed him.
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The
previous day Wilford had learned that John Greenhow was trying to obtain
the copyright to the Doctrine and Covenants in England, which "certainly
is a bold move for an apostate or apostates to undertake to Print the works
of the Church & rob them out of it." WWJ 2:519. |
| After 1844 |
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Joseph and Hyrum visitation
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| Joseph's
last visitation to Wilford |
¶ |
… Joseph Smith visited me a
great deal after his death, and taught me many important principles. The
last time he visited me was going on my last mission to preside in England.
My companions were Brother Leonard W. Hardy, Brother Milton
Holmes, Brother Dan Jones, and another brother, and my wife and two
other women.
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The
Deseret Weekly 53:21 qtd. in "Revelations in Addition to Those
Found in the LDS Edition of the D&C," . Also, Angels
in Collected Discourses 5:237–238.
another brother: Hiram Clark. WWJ 2:488. Elder Clark, who served
several missions, disgraced himself as president of the Sandwich Islands
mission in 1850 by taking liberties with Hawaiian women.
other women: Wives of Hiram Clark and Dan Jones. WWJ 2:488.
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| Prayer
stills heavy gale |
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We had been traveling three days
and nights in a heavy gale, and were being driven backwards. Finally I asked
my companions to come into the cabin with me, and I told them to pray that
the Lord would change the wind. I had no fears of being lost; but I did
not like the idea of being driven back to New York, as I wanted to go on
my journey. We all offered the same prayer, both men and women; and when
we got through we stepped on to the deck and in less than a minute it was
as though a man had taken a sword and cut that gale through, and you might
have thrown a muslin handkerchief out and it would not have moved it. |
Joseph:
get the Spirit
Trials of the apostles |
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The night following this Joseph and
Hyrum visited me, and the Prophet laid before me a great many things. Among
other things, he told me to get the Spirit of God; that all of us needed
it. He also told me what the Twelve Apostles would be called to go through
on the earth before the coming of the Son of Man, and what the reward of
their labors would be; but all that was taken from me, for some reason.
Nevertheless I know it was most glorious, although much would be required
at our hands. |
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Wilford
reports this visitation in his journal during the voyage (November 7, 1844
to January 3, 1845), but he did not record his dreams of December 30 (above)
in his journal. |
| Joseph
in a hurry to complete work for last dispensation |
¶ |
Joseph Smith continued visiting myself
and others up to a certain time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw
him was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple
in heaven. He came and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with
me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could
not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren
who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could could stop
to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. |
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By and by I saw the Prophet again,
and I got the privilege to ask him a question, "Now," said I,
"I want to know why you are in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all
through my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the
kingdom of heaven, if I ever did." |
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Joseph said: |
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I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every dispensation
that has had the Priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial
kingdom, has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the
earth with the Savior when He goes to reign on the earth. Each dispensation
has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation,
and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry in order to
accomplish it. |
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Of couse, that was satisfactory to me, but it
was new doctrine to me. |
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Visions
Beliefs and Practices
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