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LIFE INCIDENTS

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 31, No. 13.

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LIFE INCIDENTS.

By James White

BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.

CHAPTER FIVE.

Lectures at East Augusta.—Walter Bolton.—Universalist Minister.—Victories gained.—My Ordination.—First Baptism.—Preached at the Eastern Christian Conference.—Labors with Bro. Pearson.—The Disappointment at the passing of the Jewish year 1843.—The tarrying time.—Baptism at West Gardner.
BEFORE going to East Augusta, I dreamed that an ox with very high horns was pursuing me with great fury, and that I was fleeing before him for my life. He followed me so closely that I sprang into a house near by and bolted the door. The ox broke down the door and entered. I left the house through an open window, and escaped to the barn. The ox broke down the barn door and entered. I escaped by another door, and as my last resort for safety, crept under the barn floor. The ox tore up the planks with his horns, and drove me from under the barn. And as he was pursuing me in the open field, I felt his horns goading my back.
At that moment wings were given me, and I arose and flew with ease to the roof of the house. The disappointed ox stood looking at me, frequently shaking his horns, and appeared wild with rage. My deliverance was complete, and cautiously I flew from the house near the head of the ox, then quickly arose to the roof of the barn. This repeated several times, I awoke.
This dream made quite an impression upon my mind, but soon passed from me, and I thought no more of it until brought to mind by what occurred in connection with my labors at East Augusta.
As I entered the school-house to meet my first appointment, the only person present was a tall, athletic man, in the middle age of life. As it was a cool evening, he was kindling a fire. He spoke to me in a tone of kindness, but eyed me closely. I was afterwards told that Walter Bolton, for this was his name, was an infidel. He was regarded as a good citizen, but had never before been known to take any interest in religious meetings. He attended all my lectures, and seemed deeply interested, and I often heard remarks from his neighbors like this: “What has got hold of Walter Bolton to call him out to these meetings? I never saw him in a religious meeting before, unless it were a funeral.” We will leave Mr. Bolton for the present, and pass to other features of this series of meetings.
During the week I gave lectures each evening to small congregations. But Sunday morning at an early hour the house was crowded. My subject was the millennium. I labored to show,
1. That those texts usually quoted to prove the conversion of the entire world, did not prove what they are said to prove.
2. What those texts do teach. In speaking upon Isa. lxv, I showed that it was not in this mortal state, upon this old sin-cursed earth, that the leopard would lie down with the kid, and the lion eat straw like the ox, but in the new earth, as plainly declared by the prophet. That beasts, restored from the effects of the curse, would be no more out of their proper places in the earth restored, than when created upon it before the fall.
3. That certain texts in the Old and New Testaments, in most distinct and emphatic language teach that at no period of man's fallen condition will all men be holy.
At the close of this discourse, a Universalist preacher present arose and said: “I want five minutes to show that this doctrine has no foundation in the Bible, or in common sense.” He had been a regular Baptist minister, had engaged in trade, and, in the sale of liquor, had backslidden, and was preaching the unconditional salvation of all men.
You will want more than five minutes, sir, to do that, I replied. It is already half past twelve, and the people need rest and refreshment. When I have closed this afternoon, you can speak as long as they wish to hear you.
“No,” he replied, “this is just the place and time for me to speak, and the people want to hear me.” We will submit the matter to the congregation, and let them decide it for us, was my reply. I then asked those who agreed with me that the gentleman had better wait till afternoon, to rise up. Nearly the entire congregation were at once on their feet. I then asked those who chose to have him speak immediately to arise. Ten or twelve young men, who looked like finished ruffians, arose. The congregation was immediately dismissed for one hour.
In the afternoon I spoke upon Matt. xxiv, and, expecting a battle with the Universalist preacher, gave some time to the examination of the view that Christ came the second time at the destruction of Jerusalem. My arguments told on the congregation, and the minister felt it. When I had closed my discourse, I said, There is now room for that gentleman to speak as long as the people wish to hear him.
He arose embarrassed, and said in substance, “I do not want to act the part of the scoffer, or fall under the denunciation of him who says, My Lord delayeth his coming, and smites his fellow-servant; but I wish to make a few remarks relative to a portion of scripture commented upon by the speaker this forenoon, which you will find in the sixty-fifth chapter of Daniel.” He immediately commenced to ridicule the idea of beasts in Heaven. I saw at once that it was Isa. lxv, and not Daniel, that he referred to.
After he had gotten fairly under way, I called his attention to the fact that he had made a mistake in giving the prophet Daniel credit for speaking of the lion and the ox both feeding on straw, and the leopard and the kid lodging together. It was not Daniel, but another prophet who had thus spoken. He rebuked me for interrupting him. I stated that as he should proceed to show in five minutes that the doctrine I preached had no foundation in scripture, or in common sense, I should see that his references were all correct.
He affirmed that he was right in quoting Daniel, and went on with his remarks in a style well calculated to disgust the people, and turn them in strong sympathy with me. And when his unsanctified tongue was moving off at full speed, I called to him again, saying, I am not willing the gentleman shall proceed any further till he reads from Isa. lxv, the scripture from which he is speaking. Please turn and read, sir, and satisfy us all that you are correct, and I will consent for you to go on.
He took up the Bible and turned from one side to the other, colored up, appeared greatly agitated, and said, “The book of Daniel is torn out of my Bible.” Here, sir, is mine, said I, and, reaching it toward him, said, Pass it to him. Mine has the book of Daniel in it. As my Bible was being passed from seat to seat toward this minister, he looked distressed. He could not readily find the book of Daniel, not being familiar with his Bible, and evidently made up the statement for the occasion that this book was torn from his Bible.
He took my Bible and searched from one lid to the other several times for the book of Daniel, but was so agitated that he could not find it. The people fixed their eyes upon him, some with pity, others with apparent anger, while still another class laughed at him. My pity was moved toward him, and I stated that I could help the gentleman. That it was Isaiah and not Daniel that he wished to quote. That there were but twelve chapters in all the book of Daniel, and that he wished to speak upon Isa. lxv, 17–25. I then quoted these nine verses from memory, and said, This is what you want is it not? “Yes,” was his reply, and, after a few broken remarks which showed his complete confusion, he sat down and covered his face with his hands. The people were ashamed of him, and seemed astonished that I should know from his remarks what chapter and verses he wanted, and that, without my Bible, I could repeat nearly half a chapter.
If the dream of the ox applied to the effort on the part of this Universalist minister to crush me, then by this time I had all that victory over him represented by my soaring above him on wings. I then exhorted this poor apostate to turn from his sins, and seek a preparation for the coming of Christ. And as I felt the condition of the people, as there was scarcely a praying man or woman present, I exhorted them for half an hour. Nearly all wept. The minister did not raise his head. I gave an appointment for another evening meeting. Seventy men and women were present. At the close of the lecture, I asked those who felt the need of Christ, and desired my prayers that they might become Christians, to rise up. Every one arose, the Universalist minister, and all. He then stated as follows:
“I was once a Christian, and called of God to preach, and if at last I wail in hell, I shall have this to comfort me, that I have been a means in the hands of God of the salvation of sinners.”
The reader may judge that by this time this man's faith in universal salvation had become very much shaken. I then asked all among those who had arisen who would esteem it a privilege to come forward and bow with me to come to the front seats. All seventy started, and soon the floor in front of the seats was crowded so as to give no one a chance to kneel down. I then told them to go back to their seats and kneel down there as best they could, and give their hearts to the Lord. As I knelt, every soul present bowed with me. There was no one in all that congregation to join me in social prayer, for not one of them enjoyed communion with God.
The next day I called at the house of Walter Bolton. He and his family received me kindly, and conversed with me freely relative to the meetings, and upon the subject of religion in general. Before I left, Mr. Bolton said,
“Mr. White, when you rode into this place, I knew you by sight as if I had been acquainted with you for years. Your countenance, hat, coat, horse, saddle and bridle, looked familiar to me. Just before you came here to lecture, I dreamed that a young man rode into this place on horseback, to speak upon the second coming of Christ. I noticed particularly his appearance and dress. The people asked him many questions which he readily answered in a manner that carried strong conviction to their minds that the doctrine was true. Among these questions were those upon the millennium, suggesting the view that there was to be a thousand years of peace and prosperity to the church, during which time all men were to be holy; the very points you examined in your discourse last Sunday forenoon, which called out that Universalist minister. When I saw you, as you rode to this place, my dream came to my mind with such force that I felt that I must hear you speak. This is the reason why I have attended all your meetings, and have watched their progress with interest. Especially when you quoted the very texts which I heard you quote in my dream, and when you made the very remarks upon those texts which I distinctly remember of hearing you make, my feelings were beyond description.”
From anything Mr. Bolton said during this interview with him and family, no one would receive the idea that he had been troubled with infidelity. He was under deep conviction, and seemed to choose the religion of the Bible as the theme of conversation. I bowed with this dear family in prayer, and parted with them in tears. The case of Walter Bolton furnishes an illustration of the simple means by which the Lord sometimes softens the heart and enlightens the minds of those shut up to the hardness and blindness of infidelity, and prepares them for the reception of light and truth.
In a few days I returned to Palmyra, where I received ordination to the work of the ministry from the hands of ministers of the Christian denomination, of which I was a member. But I soon returned back to East Augusta and baptized three persons. A fourth candidate stood ready to go into the water, but not being satisfied that she was sincere, I refused to baptize her in the presence of a large congregation at the water. This young woman was disappointed, and joined her parents in expressions and manifestations of anger. They sent for Elder Hermon Stinson, an educated Freewill Baptist minister of note, who came to the place, baptized the young woman, and organized a small church. And in just four months from that time, Eld. Stinson was again called to the place to sit in counsel in the case of this woman, when she was dismissed from the church for bad conduct. Fearing that the bitter feelings of this family toward me might involve me in difficulty, I did not visit the place again.
During the summer of 1842, I was not able to awaken especial interest at any new place, upon the subject of the second advent. I visited the congregation of believers in Portland and Boston, labored in the hayfield to earn clothing for the winter, and preached in different places where I had the previous winter given lectures.
In the autumn of that year, in company with my father and two sisters, I attended the Maine Eastern Christian Conference, of which I was a member, held in the town of Knox. Before we reached the place, as night drew on, a heavy shower of rain compelled us to call at a hotel. In those days singing was our delight. My father had been a teacher of vocal music, and my sisters were first class singers. And as time began to hang heavily upon our hands, we found relief in singing some of the most stirring revival melodies of those times.
The landlord, his family, and many who had been driven in by the rain as we had been, seemed to enjoy our singing, and when we had finished one piece, they would call for another. In this way the evening passed off pleasantly. And when my father called for our bill the next morning, the landlord told him there was none for him to settle, as we had paid him the evening before in singing. He also stated that at any time we would put up with him he would entertain us, and take his pay in singing.
The Christian denomination in Maine, as well as in other States, had been deeply imbued with the spirit of the advent hope and faith. But it was evident before that Conference closed that many, especially among the ministers, were drawing back, and were partaking of the spirit of opposition. The religious meetings and business sessions, however, passed off with a good degree of apparent harmony. No one preached or spoke in favor of the soon advent of Christ in a manner to offend any one, and no one directly opposed. But a lack of freedom of spirit was felt by that portion of the Conference who were decided believers. This class constituted a majority of the Conference, and on Sunday, the last day of the meeting, I was urged to preach.
But I was young, and knew that according to custom the ablest men present were already selected to preach to the crowd on that day, yet I felt by the Spirit of God, that I had the word of the Lord to speak to the people. Just as the afternoon service was to commence, I felt so deeply impressed with duty to preach that several ministers noticed it in my appearance, and came to me, saying, “It is your duty to speak, and we will try and secure the time to you this afternoon.” I then retired from the crowd in and around the house, to pray over the matter, and while bowed before the Lord, decided that I would press my way directly toward the pulpit, and if the ministers gave me room, and the time, I would speak.
As I came toward the pulpit, I saw that the sofa was filled with ministers, and that one of experience in the ministry sat in the center, directly behind the large Bible. This man had been selected to give the last discourse. He had opposed me when lecturing in the west part of the State, and I concluded that he would not consent to give me the time. But as I drew near the pulpit, my brother Samuel, who was then a member of the Conference, and a Bro. Chalmers, stepped down from the pulpit, took hold of my arms and urged me to take a seat upon the sofa, stating to me that if I wished to preach I should have a chance.
I replied that if one of them would read advent hymns, the other pray, and I could get hold of the large Bible, I would speak. My brother read a hymn, and while Bro. Chalmers was praying, I took the Bible from the stand and turned leaves to certain proof texts. When the prayer was finished, some uneasiness was manifested by several ministers as they saw me in possession of the Bible. The second hymn was read and sung, while I held fast the Bible. My intentions to preach were by this time well known to all the ministers, yet no one offered to take the Bible, or speak to me in reference to occupying the time. The way seemed fully open, and I moved forward with freedom, while responses of “amen,” and frequently “glory to God,” were heard in different parts of the house from those who cherished the blessed hope of the soon coming of Jesus. At the close of this service, the Lord's supper was to be celebrated, and while the friends of Jesus were gathering around his table, I joined with my sisters in singing,
“You will see your Lord a coming,” &c.
Our voices were in those days clear and powerful, and our spirits triumphant in the Lord. And as we would strike the chorus of each verse,—“With a band of music,”—a good Bro. Clark, who ever seemed to have resting upon him a solemn sense of the great day of God near at hand, would rise, strike his hands together over his head, shout “glory,” and immediately sit down. A more solemn appearing man I never saw. Each repetition of this chorus would bring Bro. Clark to his feet, and call from him the same shout of glory. The Spirit of God came upon the brethren who by this time were seated ready to receive the emblems of our dying Lord. The influence of the melody, accompanied by Bro. Clark's solemn appearance and sweet shouts, seemed electrifying. Many were in tears, while responses of “amen” and “praise the Lord,” were heard from almost every one who loved the advent hope. The emblems were passed, and that yearly meeting closed.
In a few weeks I returned to my old field of labor, and gave lectures at Brunswick and Harpswell where a good degree of interest was manifested. The field of labor seemed to open before me as winter drew near. I had become acquainted with Bro. John Pearson, Jr., of Portland, who had been laboring a portion of his time giving lectures upon the advent near, and I invited him to join me. We labored together in different parts of Maine much of the time for nearly one year. At the Reed neighborhood in Richmond, we saw a good work. Eld. E. Cromwell, the pastor of the church, embraced the faith in full. I there baptized several. One of the number I unexpectedly met at a meeting in Gratiot Co. Mich., Feb. 8, 1868, on the very day I wrote that portion of chapter three, in which I gave an account of my first labors at the Reed meeting-house. She was then, twenty-four years since, a little girl. She is now a married woman, and a Seventh-day Adventist. Her husband is elder of the St. Charles church.
We labored at Litchfield and saw a good work. Many professed Christians embraced the faith, and sinners were converted. The Congregationalist minister felt that the work was against his interests, and in private circles opposed. On returning to the place, after an absence of some weeks, I met this minister in the road, and as we passed he seemed to be surprised to meet me again, and said, “Why, Mr. White, are you yet in the land of the living?” No sir, was the reply, I am in the land of the dying, but at the soon coming of the Lord I expect to go to the land of the living. We each went on our way. The year 1843, Jewish time, which was supposed to reach to about the twenty-first of March, 1844, passed, and many were sadly disappointed in not witnessing the coming of the Lord in that year. But these soon found relief in the clear and forcible application to the existing disappointment of those scriptures which set forth the tarrying time. It was as early as 1842 that the prophecy of Habakkuk suggested the idea of the prophetic chart to the mind of that holy man of God, Charles Fitch. No one, however, then saw in this prophecy the tarrying time. Afterward they could see both the chart and the tarry. Here is the prophecy:
“Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Chap. ii, 2, 3.
True believers were also much comforted and strengthened by that portion of the prophecy of Ezekiel which seemed exactly to the point, as follows:
“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, What is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged and every vision falleth? Tell them, therefore, Thus saith the Lord God, I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision, nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord, I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged, for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God. Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore, say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.” Chap. xii, 21–28.
There was a general agreement with those who taught the immediate coming of Christ, in applying the parable of the ten virgins of Matt. xxv, to the events connected with the second advent. And the passing of the time of expectation, the disappointment and the delay, seemed to be forcibly illustrated by the tarrying of the bridegroom in the parable. The definite time had passed, yet believers were united in the firm belief that the event was near. It soon became evident that they were losing a degree of their zeal and devotion to the cause, and were falling into that state illustrated by the slumbering of the ten virgins of the parable, following the tarrying of the bridegroom. But the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him,” which pealed through the land, which was published in second advent periodicals and sheets, and distributed, and borne, as it were, upon the wings of the wind to the believers, aroused them from their slumbers, and kindled in their minds and hearts a flame of devotion never before enjoyed by them, and led them to consecrate themselves and all they possessed to the Lord as never before.
The tarrying time was six months, and closed with the great movement in the autumn of 1844, which awoke all believers to new life. The reader will please go back with me to the spring of 1844, and follow me as I briefly sketch some of the events of that year.
The first of May I received an urgent call to visit West Gardner and baptize. A messenger was sent twenty miles for me. He stated that there were ten or twelve children, who were convicted by my lectures there, who had held their little meetings by themselves, had sought and found the Lord, who had decided to have me baptize them. Their parents opposed the idea, and told them that Eld. Getchel, the pastor of the church, would baptize them. They held a little counsel, and decided that they would not go into the water unless they could have me to immerse them. Their parents yielded, and sent for me. But before I reached the place, an effort was made to intimidate these dear children, and, if possible, to frighten them, and thus keep them from doing their duty. “What kind of an experience does Mr. White suppose those babies can tell?” said a Baptist minister of the most rigid stamp of past times.
The large school-house was crowded at the time appointed, and there were three unfriendly ministers present to watch the proceedings. Please vacate these front seats, said I, and give those who are to be baptized a chance to come forward. Twelve boys and girls from seven to fifteen years of age came forward. It was a beautiful sight which stirred the very depths of my soul, and I felt like taking charge of them as I would of a class in school. I was determined to help the feelings of these dear children as much as possible, and rebuke their persecutors.
After taking my text, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Luke xii, 32, a text quite applicable to the occasion, I stated that I should not require the children before me to relate their experiences before the congregation. That it would be cruel to decide their fitness to follow the Lord in the ordinance of baptism by the confidence and freedom they might have in speaking before those professed Christians present who felt unfriendly toward them, and that I should, at the close of my discourse, ask them a few questions. The children were much comforted and cheered by the discourse. In fact I was enjoying decidedly a good time with those lambs of the flock. They then arose in their turn and answered some questions, and related particulars as to their conviction of sin, the change they had experienced, and the love of Jesus they felt, until the congregation heard twelve intelligent and sweet experiences. It may be proper for me here to state that questions asked these children at the very point in the relation of their experiences when they were becoming confused, and were about to cut their story short, gave them confidence, and helped them to enter into all parts of their experiences.
I then called upon all present who felt opposed to the baptism of the little flock before me to rise up. Not one arose. I stated to them that the present was the time to object if they had objections. But if they did not then and there object, to forever be silent. I then stated to the children that no one objected, and that the way was fully open before them, and no person from that day had any right to object to their baptism.
We then went to a beautiful body of water, where I led those dear children down into the liquid grave, and buried them with their divine Lord. Not one of them strangled or seemed the least agitated. And as I led them out of the water, and presented them to their parents, the children met them with a heavenly smile of joy, and I praised the Lord with the voice of triumph. This meeting, and that sweet baptism, has lived among the most pleasing memories of the past, and when laboring for the youth in different States, I have probably rehearsed more or less of the particulars of that meeting and baptism a hundred times.