The Sabbath-schools of this early period had little uniformity either in lessons, plan of organization, or manner of conducting the school exercises. When lessons were published in the Instructor, they were probably used in a majority of the schools; but as there were usually from two to four grades of scholars in every school, while the Instructor furnished lessons for only one grade at a time, the other grades must look elsewhere for lessons, or study those not adapted to their wants. The result is well illustrated by three schools, reporting from three States in the same issue of the Instructor. The first says that “each scholar commits to memory what Scripture he can, and recites it separate to his teacher,” from which we would infer that each selected his own lesson. In the second school, the children learned six verses each Sabbath, and were then “going through with the Sermon on the Mount.” The third commenced with the first chapter of Genesis, and were taking three or four chapters for a lesson! Here is certainly variety,—very short, very long, and a sort of go-as-you-please (or rather, go-as-you-can) lesson. Another school reported that all, old and young, were studying the Revelation, and that little boys from eight to twelve years of age were “pleasurably entertained with this wonderful book!”
A favorite custom among Sabbath-schools was to commit to memory passages of Scripture, record being kept to see who would learn the greatest number within a given time. One little girl thirteen years old, a member of the Sabbath-school in Monterey, Mich., in six months learned and recited 892 verses, being an average of nearly forty verses per week. The entire school of thirty-eight members recited 7,555 verses in the same time. Another school reported that they found it as easy to commit a whole chapter per week as it was to learn a few verses when the school was organized several years before. It is probable this practice was carried to an extreme, as it led one writer to propose twelve or fifteen verses for a lesson, and not have them committed. “The teacher does not commit the lesson to memory,” he argues; “why should the children?” It would be just as easy to argue thus: The children do commit the lesson; why should not the teacher? The same writer, however, favored the plan of having each scholar learn a verse to recite to the superintendent as a part of the general exercises. A few extracts showing how the exercises of the schools were conducted cannot fail to interest the reader. The Battle Creek school (March, 1858) says:—“Our plan of operating is this: To open the school with singing and prayer. Then the same lesson is recited by all the classes to their teachers, who make such remarks as the lesson suggests. After this, one of the teachers, appointed for the purpose, rises, and asks a variety of general questions, hears each scholar recite a verse of Scripture, exhorts the school to constancy in the service of the Lord, and the exercises conclude with singing from the ‘Youth’s Collection of Hymns.’”
The following descriptions were written in 1860 by the superintendents of the schools referred to:—
From a school in Minnesota.
“The school commences after the morning service with singing a hymn and prayer. The school is divided into classes. Each scholar commits to memory what Scripture he can, and recites it separate to his teacher. Then questions are asked, and if any are unable to answer, they are explained by their teachers. The brethren and sisters remain after an intermission, and have a Bible class which frequently lasts till three o’clock.” [It was considerate in the brethren and sisters to hold their Bible class after the Sabbath-school.]
From a school in Illinois.
“After the Sabbath meeting the school commences by singing a hymn from the ‘Youth’s Hymn Book,’ and prayer. Then the children recite their lessons. They get six verses for a lesson, and are now going through with the Sermon on the Mount. There are two teachers, one to hear the boys recite, and another the girls. After the lesson is recited, questions are asked upon it, and instruction given. The school closes by singing a hymn. A Bible question is given out every Sabbath—generally historical—which greatly adds to the interest of the school. The children appear to take great delight in finding the answer to the question, and anything found in this way is apt to be retained.”
From a school in Iowa.
“We commenced at the first of Genesis, taking from three to four chapters for a lesson. We have now got to the last of the book. School commences at ten o’clock by singing and prayer. The lesson is read, then the scholars recite their verses committed to memory; and if there are any questions to ask pertaining to the lesson, either by scholars or teachers, they have the privilege. Our school consists of about twelve scholars, and one teacher presides over them. After school is out our social meeting commences.”
From a school in Michigan.
“Our Superintendent takes unwearied pains to impress the minds of the children with the importance of not only committing scriptures to memory, but of understanding their meaning. The school commences after the morning service, first with singing a hymn out of the little book compiled by Anna White, which is so adapted to the spirit of their wants that they can with safety adopt every word they sing. Then prayer. The school is divided into classes. All that are old enough to commit to memory have one lesson, which after they have recited to their teachers, the Superintendent asks questions upon. If any question cannot be answered by scholars, the brethren are called upon. The question is decided, and often light thrown upon it. Then the ten commandments are repeated in concert both by parents and children. Questions are asked from the commandments. I believe in future questions are to be asked from the chart on the visions of Daniel and John.”
The foregoing extracts will give a clear idea of the manner in which the Sabbath-school exercises were conducted until about 1870. C. C. L.
WORK
By Mrs. M. F. Butts
I did not know thee once; thou wert to me
A cruel master, setting metes and bounds,
And hedging me from the sweet pleasure grounds,
Set thick with flowers, where I would fain be free.
Among the roses then I did not see,
With childish eyes, the thorns that since I've found;
I heard no discord in the music's sound,
And fancied life a day of jubilee.
Now to thy gates I turn for all my peace;
Shut safely in with thee, stern, trusty friend,
I would not wander till my days shall end,
And earthly work and earthly sorrows cease;
And when at last thy harness I unbind,
Thee in the home above I hope to find.
—Mrs. M. F. Butts.
Pray for Your Enemies
—Pray for your enemies; but do not pray for them as if it were an unquestionable fact that they were all wrong, and you were all right.—S. S. Times.
Kindness as a Means of Grace
—Kind looks, kind words, kind acts, and warm handshakes,—these are secondary means of grace when men are in trouble, and are fighting their unseen battles.—Dr. John Hall.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY.
(Continued.)
Thus the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel is the signal for the opening of the investigative Judgment in the sanctuary on high. But care should be taken not to confound this trumpet with the “last trump” spoken of by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:52. The trump of the seventh angel is indeed the last of its series, but the last only in that respect; and it commences to sound while probation still continues; for the early years of its sounding are allotted to the finishing of the mystery of God. Whereas the other, called also “the trump of God,” in 1 Thess. 4:16, is the last that occurs in human history and is not sounded till after the mystery of God is finished, or in other words, till after the investigative Judgment has passed, and every righteous person is accepted of the Father; for when that trump is heard, every one who has been accounted worthy of a part in the resurrection to eternal life, is in an instant made immortal. 1 Cor. 15:52.
So important an epoch is marked by the seventh trumpet that it will be a matter of interest to look at the events which transpire under its sounding in chronological order. These, though not given in the prophecy (Rev. 11:15–19) consecutively, are nevertheless of such a nature that it will not be difficult to locate them in the order of their occurrence.
1. The opening of the temple. The most holy place of the temple or tabernacle in heaven is opened. We know that this takes place immediately on the sounding of the seventh trumpet; for that trumpet commences to sound just as soon as prophetic time is no longer. Rev. 10:6, 7. But at the end of the great period of 2300 days (Dan. 8:14), which marks the end of all prophetic time, the cleansing of the sanctuary commences, which necessitates the opening of the most holy, and the entrance of the high priest therein. Heb. 9:7, 25, 26. This is the place where our Lord finishes his priesthood, and where the Ancient of days presides in the Judgment. Dan. 7:9, 10.
2. Finishing the mystery. In the days (years) of the beginning of the voice of the seventh angel, the mystery of God, or the work of human probation, is finished. This as we have seen involves the closing up of the immense work of our High Priest as mediator for all the world. It also requires the proclamation of the final warnings to mankind.
3. Judgment of the righteous. The finishing of the priesthood of Christ thus at the tribunal of his Father, during this time, consists in making the atonement, that is, in looking over the cases of all those who have ever made a profession of the service of God, and blotting out and putting away the sins of all the overcomers. This involves the Judgment of all the righteous dead, with whom this work would naturally, perhaps necessarily, begin, opening with the case of Abel, the first to die, and closing with the living of the last generation only.
4. The coronation of Christ. When Christ finishes his work as priest, he is crowned king (Dan. 7:13, 14); and this coronation, and his assumption of the kingdom, is announced by the great voices in heaven, and by the adoration of the four and twenty elders. Rev. 11:15–17. When Christ begins his reign upon his own throne, he is invested by the Father with that power which Satan usurped from Adam the first. Micah 4:8. The reign of Christ, the second Adam, is to be the re-establishment of the empire of God in this revolted province; and this throne Christ takes just as soon as he has closed up his office of priest-king, which he now occupies at his Father's right hand. Zech. 6:12, 13; Rev. 3:21.
5. The anger of the nations. The national condition of suspicion, jealousy, envy, fear, and anger, brought to view in verse 18, which is now a characteristic of nearly all the governments of the earth, commences soon after the seventh trumpet begins to sound. That commenced, as already noticed, in 1844; and the great monarchical earthquake in Europe, which occurred four years later, in 1848, when so many thrones were overturned, may well be taken as the first installment of the anger of the nations. That revolution threw them into a chronic state of disturbance and hostility which has been increasing to the present day. The East India question, the Russian question, the Turkish question, the Egyptian question, the Franco-German question, the Irish question, nihilism, socialism, communism, and dynamite, have mined all the eastern world, till it already trembles with the first throes of a vast earthquake which seems destined to shake it to ruins. This anger of the nations will reach its climax, when, under the impulse of unclean spirits, they gather to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Rev. 16:13, 14; 19:19–21.
6. The wrath of God. “And thy wrath is come,” is another of the events announced to occur under the sounding of the seventh angel. This wrath comes down upon the wicked when Christ, having received them under his jurisdiction, after they have rejected the last offers of mercy, begins to rule them with the iron scepter of his justice. Ps. 2:8, 9. This wrath consists of the seven last plagues. Rev. 11:18, 19; 14:9–11; 15; 16; 19:11–21.
7. The reward of the saints. This is also mentioned in verse 18. The reward of the saints commences at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:14; Matt. 16:27. It will be given in its fullness when they enter upon their final inheritance at the end of the thousand years. Matt. 25:34.
8. The destruction of the wicked. The time is come, continues the prophecy, that “thou shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth.” The final destruction of them that destroy (or as the margin reads, “corrupt”) the earth is by the second death at the end of the one thousand years of Revelation 20. Rev. 20:7–9.
The sounding of the seventh trumpet is therefore synchronous with the whole period of the Judgment of the great day. It commenced when the temple was opened in heaven, and the thrones were set for the investigative Judgment, at the end of the 2300 days in 1844; and it ends with the destruction of sin and sinners, root and branch, the arch deceiver and all his followers, in the lake of fire, at the end of the one thousand years.
So momentous and solemn are these truths that we cannot forbear to remind the reader again of our present position. Prophetic time ended in 1844. There the seventh angel began to sound, the most holy place of the temple in heaven was opened, the judicial thrones of the investigative Judgment (Dan. 7:9, 10) were set (Hebrew), and Christ began the final examination of the cases of his people before the Father, to make the atonement, to cleanse the sanctuary, and finish the mystery of God. More than forty years already have elapsed since we entered this solemn period, and this work began.
And what follows? The close of Christ’s priesthood, the end of probation, the utterance of that solemn fiat which fixes every man’s destiny, “He which is filthy let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still” (Rev. 22:11, 12), the coronation of Christ upon the holy hill of Zion (Ps. 2:6), the wrath of God, in the seven last plagues, upon the living wicked, the convulsions of the great day, the revelation of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords in the clouds of heaven, the giving of immortality to every overcomer, and the destruction of all his incorrigible enemies then living upon the earth. Luke 19:27.
When our Lord ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of his Father, as mediator between him and his people, he also had another work to accomplish. He revealed to the disciples this work in the following comforting words: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2, 3. This doubtless refers to the glorious city, the New Jerusalem, which is being prepared to be the metropolis of Christ’s kingdom, and the palatial abode of those who humbly follow him in this lower world. And in view of the language just quoted we cannot doubt that the work is wrought under the personal supervision of our Lord, during the period of his priesthood. And his people will enter those mansions when that which Christ wills is brought to pass, and they are taken into his presence to behold his glory. Such was his prayer. “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” John 17:24.
The Saviour being crowned king at the close of priestly office, begins the exercise of his kingly power by delivering his people, and by bringing to trial, pronouncing Judgment upon, and executing his enemies. This is clearly brought to view in the 110th psalm which speaks of both his kingly and priestly offices. Thus in verse 1 he is assigned the place of honor at the Father’s right hand. “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand.” It is important to observe that there are two personages brought to view in this psalm, to whom the word “Lord” is applied: the Father and the Son. The first is from the original “Jehovah,” referring to the Father, and is printed in the text, as the reader will observe, in small capitals; the second is from “Adonai,” and refers to the Son. Thus “Jehovah said unto Adonai,” or the Father said unto the Son, Sit thou at my right hand. But the time he is to continue in this position is limited by an event which changes his office from that of priest to that of king. It is expressed in these words which immediately follow: “Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Verse 2 states the very act of making Christ king, and placing his enemies under him as his footstool.
“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” The first clause of this verse is parallel to Ps. 2: “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” The heavenly Zion (Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1) is the place of Christ’s coronation. The last clause, “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies,” expresses the words of the Father to the Son when he crowns him King. This is obvious from our common English version, but is made still more evident from the French translation of David Martin in which the two clauses are connected by the words, “in saying;” thus, “The Lord shall transmit out of Zion the scepter of thy strength in saying: Rule in the midst of thy enemies.”
The next verse states the sympathy of Christ’s people with his work when he is thus inducted into his kingly office, and proceeds to exercise his power against his enemies: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.” Instead of “the day of thy power,” Martin’s French Bible reads, “The day that thou shalt assemble thy army in holy pomp.” This is the time when the Son of man descends in power and glory, and the armies of heaven, that is, all the angels, attend and surround him. Matt. 24:30; 1 Thess. 4:16–18; Rev. 19:11, 12. The people of God are to unite with Christ in his rule over the nations of wicked men. Rev. 2:26, 27; Ps. 2:6. The morning of this verse must be the morning of the day which it mentions. One of the early events of that day is the resurrection of the dead, when like their Lord they are born from the dead to life immortal. Rev. 20:4–6; Luke 20:35, 36; 1 Thess. 4:16–18; Hos. 13:13, 14; 1 Cor. 15:42–44, 51–54.
By virtue of the authority vested in our Lord, inducted into his kingly office, he proceeds to judge his enemies, or pass sentence of destruction upon the living nations of those who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So verse 6 of the 110th psalm reads: “He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” This is his work in the day of his power, to which his people give their willing assent. Verse 3. This is the great day of his wrath, when he shall dash the nations in pieces like a potter’s vessel (Ps. 2:9); none will be able to stand except those whose sins are blotted out. The wicked kings of the earth shall fall before him when he is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Instead of the reading given in the English version, “He shall wound the heads over many countries,” Martin’s Bible has the singular number, and translates thus: “He shall wound the chief who rules over great country.” Thus the text is made to refer unmistakably to Satan. The Hebrew word rendered “wound” is defined by Gesenius thus: “To smite through and through; to dash in pieces; to crush.” And thus shall our great adversary be treated when the God of peace shall bruise the prince of darkness under the feet of his people. Rom. 16:20; Gen. 3:15; 1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14.
Thus the transition of Christ from his priestly to his kingly office is clearly marked. Human probation closes when Christ ceases to be priest. Those who are found in their sins after our Lord has been crowned king upon his own throne, must be destroyed as his enemies. And the priesthood of Christ terminates137when he has obtained the acquittal of his people, and secured the blotting out of their sins at the tribunal of the Father. Then and there he is crowned King (Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14); and from that coronation he shortly comes to our earth as King, to deliver all who at that examination of the books, are accounted worthy to have a part in the world to come, in the resurrection of the just. Dan. 12:1; Luke 20:35, 36; 21:36.
(To be continued.)
THE SHUT DOOR AND KINDRED MATTERS
By George I. Butler
ADVENT EXPERIENCE.—NO. 4.
THE SHUT DOOR AND KINDRED MATTERS.
Perhaps there has never been anything connected with the Advent movement that our enemies have found harder to use to our reproach than the shut door doctrine. We propose to examine this matter quite fully, and to give the facts concerning it, for the benefit of those of our people who are not familiar with them. We shall find them very different from what they are represented by our enemies. We have seen how earnest and devoted the believers were previous to the passing of the time, and the bitter reaction which followed. All was zeal and earnestness and activity before; but sorrow, disappointment, and perplexity followed. The bitter hatred against the doctrine of Christ’s soon coming manifested by many church members, resembling that of the Jews against the disciples because they believed in Christ’s first advent, was strong evidence to the believers that the favor of God was withdrawn from them. They had done their utmost to warn the world, and knew that God had blessed them in their work. They knew the cause was founded upon the rock of eternal truth, the word of God. Therefore they knew that those who were bitterly opposed to the work were fighting against God.
As the time passed there was a general feeling among all the earnest believers that their work for the world was done. Day by day they were still waiting, watching, and longing for the appearing of the Savior, not knowing why he tarried. At this time no one gave credence to their advent views, or manifested the slightest interest to listen to them. They were considered fanatics because they would not give up their belief after their disappointment.
The great change, manifested in the almost fiendish feelings of the opposers, and that in their own feelings in regard to laboring for the salvation of souls, together with the bearing of certain texts of Scripture, led them to the conclusion that their work for the world was done. Mr. Miller and others believed that the door would be shut a short time before Christ came. In a letter to Eld. J. V. Himes, Oct. 6, 1844, he said: “I am strong in the opinion that the next will be the last day sinners will ever have in probation. And within ten or fifteen days from that time they will see him whom they hated and despised to their shame and everlasting contempt.” This was very natural in view of such texts as Rev. 22:11, 12: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous let him be righteous still; and he that is holy let him be holy still. And behold I come quickly.” No doubt probation will close some little time previous to the appearing of Jesus.
When the midnight cry ended and the time passed, they felt that the last great test was reached. This was the universal feeling at the time. Their intense burden for souls had ceased. The Satanic spirit of those around them made the matter still more clear to their minds. After the time passed, Mr. Miller in another address to Eld. Himes says: “We have done our work in warning sinners and in trying to awaken the nominal church. God in his providence has shut the door. We can only stir one another up to be patient and to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. We are now living in the time specified in Mal. 3:18 (also Dan. 12:10; Rev. 22:10-12). In this age we cannot help but see that a little while before Christ should come, there would be a separation between the just and the unjust, between the righteous and the wicked, between those who love his appearing and those who hate it. And never since the days of the apostles has there been such a division drawn as was drawn about the time of the seventh month. Since that time they say they have no confidence in us. We have need of patience after we have done the will of God, that we may receive the promise.”
In another letter published in the Advent Herald, he says: “I did believe, and must confess that I do now, I have done my work in warning sinners, and that in the seventh month.” Geo. Needham, another prominent Adventist minister, says in the Voice of Truth, March 19, 1845: “I am, and have been convinced since the tenth day of the seventh month that our work for the world and the foolish virgins is done. I must deny that glorious movement as being the work of God, or I can come to no other conclusion. That I can never do. The foolish virgins have gone to the old establishments where they sell oil, and are crying to us to come after them, and the world are with them to buy a little oil, and shall we go to them with the hope of doing them any good? Not lest we die.”
J. B. Cook, another prominent Adventist, says in “Advent Testimony”: “If the Advent cause and people be worthy of divine interposition, or this the era to expect the Lord, then we are down through the shut door in that representation of Advent history. My language to many has been, I believe in the shut door just as you have experienced it.”
We have given these extracts from prominent Adventists, none of whom were in what we call the third angel’s message. We could quote many others who taught similar sentiments, and who acted a leading part in the great ’44 movement. There can be no question that for months after the time passed it was the general sentiment that their work of warning the world was over. They felt so because, 1. They believed the proclamation in the past was a fulfillment of prophecy, a solemn announcement that “the hour of God’s Judgment is come;” the Lord having signally blessed the movement and those who were connected with it. They could not question the truthfulness of this without denying their faith. 2. The attitude assumed by those who rejected the message was bitter and wicked, like those who rejected Christ; which was clear evidence to them that they had rejected important light and truth. They felt therefore that God had rejected them. 3. Their own position and feelings made the matter still more clear. They had an intense burden of soul before for all classes, and labored incessantly to warn them and save them, pouring out their means lavishly and willing to make any sacrifice to do so. They felt in their souls that it was the Spirit of God that impelled them to do this. Now they felt entirely different. Their burden was gone, and they thought their work was done. Besides, there were none who desired their labor. Under these circumstances, was it strange that they should feel that “the door was shut” as God’s word said it would be at a certain point? How could they have felt otherwise unless they threw away all their wonderful experience?
But as the months passed by after the passing of the time, believers began to doubt and to give up their past experience. Prominent men, like Geo. Storrs, did so, and within six months large numbers had become unsettled. The leaders began to look around for some new ground to stand upon. Instead of waiting patiently, and finding the true light in the Bible explanation of the heavenly sanctuary and the third angel’s message, they demonstrated their lack of true faith by unsettling the old advent land-marks and giving up the great movement as fanaticism. True faith is always shown in times of darkness and persecution, perplexity and unpopularity. With most of them there was a great lack, as the result demonstrated. Doubtless this was the reason God permitted them to pass through this experience.
For six years in succession some Adventists moved the time for the termination of the 2300 days of Dan. 8. The result brought disappointment and confusion among them. But the true and faithful believers did not participate in this foolish work. Many of the old laborers began to talk of going forth to “re-arouse the slumbering churches” which had rejected the light. But their success was not encouraging. In 1843 and 1844 loud calls were made to give up the work of God as a mistake, mesmerism, etc.
April 29, 1845, there was a large meeting of Adventists at Albany, N. Y. Leading laborers were present, and over fifty preachers. Plans were formed to go to work as they had done before the passing of the time. Strong expressions were indulged in concerning the great movement of the past. Eld. J. V. Himes was reported by those present as saying, “The seventh month movement produced mesmerism seven feet deep.” That which they themselves had in the past acknowledged as the Spirit of God impelling them to work and sacrifice in his cause; that which had produced a solemnity and depth of spiritual experience not known for centuries, was now denounced as “mesmerism.” From that point the great mass of the Adventist body began to lose their power. Distraction came into their midst. Biting and devouring one another became the order of the day, and soon that large body of over fifty thousand Adventists which came out of the popular churches upon the cry of “Babylon is fallen,” began to disintegrate, split up into divisions, and gradually to go to pieces, till they have largely lost their influence in moving people to believe in the coming of Christ. Like the foolish virgins, they lost the “oil,”—the Spirit of God,—took ground against the past advent work, the Sabbath and the true work of God, and their course has been most sad and discouraging. But there were honest souls scattered here and there who would not, could not, follow them in this course. They still prayed for light, held on to the old pillars of their faith, and believed God would open the way before them. Of their experience I will speak further.
G. I. B.
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, in138the 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.