A significant pulse within American religion was the notion to return to the purity of the early Christian church. Elias Smith (1769-1846) and Abner Jones (1772-1841) were two advocates in New England who founded a loose affiliation of churches known as the “Christian Connexion.” A parallel movement broke away from Methodism in the American South led by James O’Kelly (1735-1826) and Barton Stone (1772-1844). This loose “connection” or affiliation of churches were united in their self-perceived commitment to restore the Christian church from various corruptions to their understanding of early Christian purity. Such a commitment led to an openness toward dreams and visions. GOP 242.2
Elias Smith, for example, related that a personal revelation as part of his conversion narrative. 35Elias Smith, The Life, Conversion, Teaching, Travels and Sufferings of Elias Smith, vol. 1 (Boston: [by the author], 1840), 149. Smith notes that initially he is hesitant about this dream in which he meets an angel, but eventually concludes “that my dream about a dream is true” (192). At age 16 he claimed that Jesus Christ had physically appeared to him. Upon entering the woods, he slipped. As he lay in the snow, “a light appeared to shine from heaven, not only into my head, but into my heart.” He described his mind as rising higher, until he beheld “the Lamb” on “Mount Sion” [sic]. 36Ibid., 53. Smith’s understanding of revelations included dreams, which he believed must be differentiated between those that are true versus false. Some are “vain” or reflect “ordinary business,” yet others “are by the spirit of God.” 37Ibid., 333, 334. GOP 242.3
Restorationists appealed to a radical return to the New Testament church, which created an openness to supernatural dreams and visions. The authority for such revelations was often linked, as it was for Elias Smith, as part of a conversion narrative. Such revelations were not generally perceived as conducive to creating new texts of Scripture, but rather as an affirmation of their religious experience. GOP 243.1