p. 245 | Meetings in Missouri

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1875

Meetings in Missouri.

FROM private letters we gain some facts relative to the visit of Bro. and sister White to Missouri. Friday, May 23, they found themselves at the Gallatin depot, ten miles from the place of meeting, and in a drenching rain. A clumsy omnibus was the only vehicle that could be procured, and they were about to start out in that, when they met Bro. Middleton, who took them to his home. He urged them to speak in Gallatin that evening, to which they consented. The Cambellite church was procured, and the notices were posted that Mr. and Mrs. White would address the people that evening. Soon the daily papers came in containing notices that Eld. White and wife would address the people at the tent in Prairie Valley that evening. Here was a dilemma. The places were ten miles apart, and it was still raining; but they decided to divide their forces and thus fill both appointments.

Bro. White spoke to a full house in Gallatin while sister White took a hired carriage to Prairie Valley, where she found a tent full of expectant hearers who had been waiting their arrival. These had come thirty, sixty, eighty, and some a hundred miles, and they were prepared to welcome heartily the speaker, and listen gratefully to the word of truth. Bro. White came on the ground in the morning, spoke twice to the people, and then returned to Gallatin to hear the Cambellite minister in the evening, who had made appointment to review his Friday evening discourse.

In her last letter sister White says:—

“My husband returned Sunday morning and reported that he had given out in the meeting in Gallatin that Mrs. White would speak to them if there was a house open for her. Eld. Sheik, the Cambellite minister, arose and said that the house was open to Eld. White, but would not be opened for Mrs. White, because he did not believe it to be right for a woman to speak in the church. Upon this the justice of the peace arose and said that, if there was no meetinghouse opened, Mrs. White should have the Court House, for the people wished to hear her.

“I spoke in the tent Sunday forenoon, and in the afternoon Bro. Brackett took me to Gallatin. I expected to get one hour to rest before the time of speaking. My husband was to speak one hour and then come to Gallatin to open the meeting for me; but I had no sooner entered Gallatin than the Court House bell began to ring. Then I knew what was before me, that I must go ahead, trusting in my best Friend and Helper in every time of need.

“For one hour the people had been crowding into the Court House fearing that there would be no seats; and although the time was not up, they sent for me, because the people were waiting. The Court House was crowded, inside, and the people were standing in the yard, around the windows, and everywhere that they could get within hearing. I opened the meeting by prayer, the singingmaster struck up a tune, and then I spoke to as attentive an audience as I ever had. The deepest interest was manifested. All seemed to be disappointed. They had heard so many false reports that they were expecting to hear some wild harangue or fanatical raid against the churches. I spoke of God in nature. They did not expect this, and they seemed charmed with the subject. After the meeting, ladies thanked me for the instruction given to mothers. Said one, ‘It is as good as gold dollars. I never heard the matter presented in this way before.’

“They urged us to stay and speak to them again. They said that they wanted to hear again and again on these subjects, and that we could have the Congregationalist or the Methodist church, but we had to leave them then. The way is now opened for the tent to be pitched in Gallatin, and work will immediately commence there. May the Lord give success to his truth.”