Report of Meetings in Oakland, Mich.
By J. L. Edgar
Bro. Smith: I have been making some feeble efforts of late to spread the truth, and for fear of moving wrong my soul has been bowed down for months. I desire to be found in my proper place in this solemn message. I commenced a series of meetings in the town of Oakland, Kent Co., Apr. 3d and gave eighteen lectures in all, until one of my eyes failed and I was obliged to return home. The Lord is blessing the means made use of, and my eyes are being restored. The meetings in Oakland were well sustained, notwithstanding the strong opposition from a certain class calling themselves Free-thinkers, more properly denominated Free-lovers. April 5th I gave notice that on next First-day I would give the Bible view of Spiritualism. The Spiritualists turned out en mass. I endeavored to lay the ax at the root of the tree by showing from the Scriptures that the dead know not anything. This stirred the ire of the dragon to find himself thus exposed where he evidently thought of reaping a fine harvest. On the evening of the 11th, a lecturer by the name of B. and his clique whose name is legion, came down to drive out that "little fanatic," (as they termed me) for certain strange things were brought to their ears, and the people were stirred against them. I spoke from Rev. xiii, 11-18. B. arose and occupied some time in reviewing me. His ideas were scattered and not to the point, and ended by saying that one horn of the beast was Republicanism, the other England. He also stated that the Bible did teach Spiritualism and quoted as proof the appearance of Moses and Elias on the mount, "I am thy fellow servant, [Rev. xxii, 9.] and the witch of Endor, [1 Samuel xxviii]. Being driven from his strong hold he denied the Bible which previous to this he had professed to believe. Thus they deceive. He called the Bible an old rotten thing upon which, like an old fiddle, you could play any tune you saw fit; called the God of the Bible a God of war, and more cruel than the savage &c. The speaker's views were so contradictory that all could see for themselves. They completely overturned, ate up and annihilated each other. The Lord gave me some liberty in presenting the truth to that people, and while some seed has fallen by the wayside, I trust some has fallen on good ground. A few have decided to obey God rather than man by keeping all of his commandments. O that God would prepare the hearts of that people for the reception of the third angel's message; the last to be given to fallen man, to prepare for translation a people who will be keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. May he bless those Baptist brethren who gave me a fair hearing and kindly invited me to their homes to partake of their hospitalities. Some have commenced keeping the Sabbath of the Lord, others have readily embraced the Bible view of no immortality out of Christ, the final destruction of the wicked, and the earth the final abode of the saints. And as they have thrown off the heathen dogma of natural immortality handed down to us from the "Roman dunghill of decretals," may they be enabled to see another pet of Romanism, namely Sunday-keeping for which there is no authority in the word of God; the highest authority we have for First-day keeping being the Catholic church, the mother of harlots. J. L. Edgar.
Bourne, May 19th, 1859.