p. 137 | Recollections of the Past: No. 12

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · March 3, 1885

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 9

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PAST.—NO. 12.

By John Norton Loughborough

DURING the last week in December, 1854, I visited Jefferson Co., N. Y., for the first time, in company with S. W. Rhodes, and held meetings at Loraine and Mannsville. The first week in January, 1855, I returned to Oswego Co., and held meetings at Roosevelt. I also visited Volney, stopping over night at the house of Bro. David Arnold. It was in Volney that the first Conference of Sabbath-keepers for the State of New York was held by Bro. and Sr. White, in

the year 1848.

An account of this meeting is given in “Life Sketches,” pp. 246-248. From the account there given, I quote as follows:—

“Soon after this we were invited to attend a Conference at Volney, N. Y., August, 1848. Bro. Edson wrote that the brethren were generally poor, and that he could not promise that they would do much toward defraying our expenses. . . . My husband earned forty dollars in the hay-field. With a part of this we purchased some clothing, and had means left to take us to Western New York and to return.”

“Our first Conference in Western New York was at Volney in Bro. Arnold’s barn. There were about thirty-five present, all that could be collected in that part of the State, but there were hardly two agreed. Each was strenuous for his own views, declaring that they were according to the Bible. All were anxious to advance their sentiments and to preach to us. They were told that we had not come so great a distance to hear them, but we had come to teach them the truth. Bro. Arnold held that the one thousand years of the 20th chapter of Revelation were in the past, and that the one hundred and forty-four thousand mentioned in Revelation were those raised at Christ’s resurrection. And as we had the emblems of our dying Lord before us, and were about to commemorate his sufferings, Bro. A. arose, and said he had no faith in what we were about to do,—that the Lord’s supper was a continuation of the passover to be observed but once a year.”

“These strange differences of opinion rolled a heavy weight upon me, especially as Bro. A. spoke of the one thousand years being in the past. I knew that he was in error, and great grief pressed my spirits, as it seemed to me that God was dishonored, and I fainted under the burden. Bro. Bates, Chamberlain, Gurney, Edson, and my husband, prayed for me. Some feared I was dying. But the Lord heard the prayers of his servants, and I revived. The light of heaven rested upon me. I was soon lost to earthly things. My accompanying angel presented before me some of the errors of those present, and also the truth in contrast with their errors, showing that these discordant views which they claimed to be according to the Bible were only according to their opinion of the Bible, and that they must yield their errors and unite upon the third angel’s message. Our meeting ended victoriously. Truth gained the victory. Those who held the strange diversity of errors, there confessed them, and united upon the third angel’s message of present truth, and God greatly blessed them and added many to their numbers.”

The above statements set briefly before us some of the features of that wonderful occasion. At the time of my visit at Volney above mentioned, I had opportunity to learn other facts concerning the meeting; and Jan. 8, 1884, I had opportunity to learn still further particulars from Bro. A. Ross of Roosevelt, who was one of the thirty-five who attended the Volney meeting.

Our enemies have given a version of the Volney vision like this: “There was a diversity of sentiment; Sr. White saw that they must lay aside their diversities and unite, and they did so.” Of course this statement was not for the purpose of refuting the claim of S. D. Adventists that the tendency of the visions is to accomplish just what Paul said would be the effect of true manifestations of the Spirit of God; viz., to bring the church “in the unity of the faith.” Eph. 4:12-15. The reason these persons gave up their differences was not simply because Sr. White said they must give them up, but because in the same vision they were pointed to plain statements of Scripture that refuted their false theories, and had presented before them in contrast a straight and harmonious track of Bible truth.

As the circumstance was related to me, Sr. White, while in vision, arose to her feet and took the family Bible upon her left arm, the book being an ordinary sized one. While holding it thus, her eyes looking upward and in an opposite direction from the Bible, with her right hand she would turn from text to text, placing her finger on the text, and would repeat the same. Bro. Ross looked at many of the texts to see if she was repeating the one to which she pointed. He or some of the company looked at them all. In every case she not only repeated the texts to which she pointed, but she did so while her eyes were fastened upward and in an opposite direction from the Bible. It was these scriptures quoted in this wonderful manner, which overthrew the false theories of the Sabbath-keepers assembled at Volney, in August, 1848, and caused them to unite upon the truth.

A few words concerning the manner in which these quotations were made may be in order. It is said to be impossible for a person to place his arm in a horizontal position, at right angles with the body, and to hold it thus for thirty minutes. On this occasion Sr. White’s arm was in that position more than thirty minutes with an ordinary sized family Bible resting upon it. Let it also be remembered that these scriptures were repeated by her while her body was breathless. One must have been hard to convince who did not renounce error of doctrine corrected under such circumstances by plain texts quoted from the Bible.

This company of Sabbath-keepers in Oswego County after their errors had been thus corrected, and they had become united upon the truth, went forth from that meeting to spread the light to others. The results surely bore the evidence of being the work of God. Satan is ever ready to divide, distract, and scatter, by whatever means he can employ. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” 1 Cor. 14:33.

I have turned aside a little from my narrative to call attention to the circumstances of the Volney meeting, as related by eye witnesses, which were of great interest to me. During the remainder of January and the month of February, 1855, I held meetings in Madison, Chenango, Oswego, and Niagara counties. During the month of March I held meetings in Monroe county. During that month a 60-foot tent was purchased from E. C. Williams, of Rochester, N. Y., for summer use in the State. It was at the close of this same month that Elds. Stephenson and Hall first visited Rochester. Bro. White was so anxious to assist them in their work in Wisconsin that on the 4th of April he purchased a tent for Wisconsin. He borrowed the money for the purpose, and waited upon Elds. S. and H. until the means could be raised in Wisconsin. The months of April and May I spent in Central and Western New York, holding meetings, collecting on the New York tent, and preparing for the summer tent campaign. The first S. D. Adventist tent meeting in the State was held at Mill Grove, Erie Co., on the farm of Bro. Harvey Cottrell, June 3, 4, and was conducted by Bro. R. F. Cottrell and myself.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.