Miracles in My Life

5 “VERY BAD INJUN”

Traveling to Orangeport, we spent our first Sabbath with a company of believers there. A heavy snowstorm made it impossible to go any farther with the carriage, so on Sunday we constructed a four-runner sleigh, or “pung,” and went on our way. MML 25.1

On Christmas Eve, 1852, we drove into Buffalo in a terrible snowstorm. Up to this time I had never owned an overcoat, so Brother Edson stopped at a clothing store and bought me one. We then drove on to Fredonia and held meetings for a few days. From there we went to Potter County, Pennsylvania, visiting scattered ones along the way. MML 25.2

At State Line, Lewis Hacket had arranged for me to speak Sunday afternoon and evening in a large schoolhouse. Since the forenoon was already taken by another minister, we decided to attend and further circulate our appointment. When the minister failed to appear, the congregation asked me to speak. As I stepped to the desk, the people gave me a very curious look, but soon began to show deep interest. In the afternoon and evening the place was packed to utmost capacity. MML 25.3

As I went into Mr. Hacket’s shoe-shop on Monday morning, I noticed a copy of the handbill with which he had notified the town of my meetings. This explained the peculiar looks of the people the day before. It read, “J. N. Loughborough of Rochester will speak at the schoolhouse at two and seven p.m. Come and hear, for they which have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Lewis hath received. And these do all contrary to the pope’s decrees, saying there is a better way,-the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” I asked, “Is this the way you notified the town? Now I can understand why the people gave me such a curious look when I first stood before them.” MML 25.4

As we started our homeward trip down the Genesee River to Rochester, we had to hurry for the snow was melting fast. We stopped over Sabbath with a family of believers. The husband in the family seemed very anxious to preach the message, but we gave him no encouragement for we felt he took life altogether too easy to make a success of preaching. We noticed that his wife was out cutting wood to prepare his supper while he sat in an easy chair, his feet upon another, and sang with enthusiasm about the easy time he expected in heaven. One stanza delighted him most, “We’ll have nothing at all to do but march around Jerusalem, when we arrive at home.” He seemed to illustrate the spirit of his song by having nothing to do with labor and toil on earth. MML 25.5

When we reached Attica, N.Y., the snow had all melted off the road, so we had to walk to relieve the horse in drawing our pung over the bare ground. We reached Rochester in good health and good cheer after an absence of six weeks. But now, as Hiram Edson returned to his home, I had to ride on the back of old Charlie with the harness some fifty miles to Orangeport to get the carriage we left there in December. MML 26.1

During the winter of 1852-53, into the Rochester company came a man who was loud and boisterous in his testimony. He said, “There’s a position we can reach where we shall have no more temptations.” It sounded a bit strange to me, and judging by the look of Elder and Mrs. White, I did not think they endorsed his theology either. MML 26.2

The next Sabbath the man exhorted us to come upon higher ground where we would be free from temptation. The climax came the third Sabbath. This zealous one bellowed, “Brethren, come up on the platform where I am. COME UP! COME UP! MML 26.3

Rising to his feet Elder White very calmly said to the man, “You speak of being upon some platform. It reminds me of a man of small stature in Christ’s time who wanted to see the Saviour and climbed into a sycamore tree. When the Saviour came along, He said, ‘Zaccheus, make haste and come down.’ I will now say to you, Zaccheus, come down. If there is a place where we will not be tempted anymore, let us know how to get there. With irony I tell you that you have sat down on the easy stool of the devil when you think that all your impressions are from the Lord, and you will be led into gross sins.” MML 26.4

The man protested that it would not be so, yet six weeks later he came into his house with a woman much younger than his wife clinging to his arm. As he entered the room, he said to his wife who was holding her two-month-old babe, “Thus saith the Lord, Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” He then invited his wife to leave, giving her to understand that the woman on his arm was now the mistress of the house. As his wife did not propose to walk the cold, wintry streets with a babe in her arms, she refused to go. Shortly afterwards, the man had a case to settle with the civil authorities. This ended all his profession of the third angel’s message. MML 26.5

During the winter of 1852-53, Elder Andrews wrote his 80-page pamphlet on the sanctuary and 2,300 days. This was printed on the hand press in the spring of 1853. The office had no stitching or trimming machine. Elder White, anxious to send copies to all the brethren, called a “bee” of the Rochester members who folded the signatures for 100 books. I perforated them with a shoemaker’s pegging awl, the sisters stitched them with needle and thread, Mary Patten put on the covers, and Uriah Smith trimmed them with his pocket knife and straight edge. Sister White wrapped them, and Elder White addressed them for the mail. We were a happy company together for we were getting off the first book printed on a press owned by Seventh-day Adventists. MML 27.1

In the early years of my ministry, I had labored together with Elder Sullivan Heath, a First-day Adventist who shortly afterwards moved to Illinois. His relatives in Clarkson, N.Y. had accepted present truth and, anxious that he hear also, raised money for my expenses to visit him. Elder White suggested that instead of simply going to Illinois and back, I should visit the few at Fredonia, N.Y. and Milan, Ohio, and some points in Michigan, then meet them at Jackson on June 21. So I left in May with this intention. MML 27.2

In 1853, the plan was adopted of giving the ministers a card recommending them to fellowship with our people everywhere. The one given me in January, 1853, reads: “Brother Loughborough of Rochester, N.Y. is one whom we recommend to the brethren where he may travel.”

In behalf of the church,
(signed) James White
Joseph Bates, leading ministers.

PICTURE

After passing through Ohio, I went on to Michigan and met Elder Cornell at his house in Plymouth. We went together to Tyrone, Locke, and Jackson. Here we parted, he to meet the Whites at Tyrone, and I to go to Battle Creek, Bedford, and Hastings, then to return and meet him at Jackson. Here a very striking incident occurred. MML 28.1

When I reached the home of Cyrenius Smith in Jackson, the Whites and the Cornells were there. Elder Cornell met me at the door and took me to a grove near the house before I saw Elder or Mrs. White. He told me that Sister White had had a vision, and gave me all the particulars. He said she had written it out and hoped I would get a copy of it, for part of it was about a corrupt woman they knew, and she had given an exact description of the case. Elder and Mrs. White had an appointment where this woman lived, but they themselves did not know where she lived. Sister White kept asking him if he knew, but he would evade a definite answer, telling them that if there were such a woman in the state they would probably find her. I agreed with Elder Cornell to say nothing to them about it, but would try to obtain a copy of the vision, and we would watch to see how the thing came out. MML 28.2

When I went into the house, Sister White began at once to tell me of the wonderful meeting they had at Tyrone in which the Lord had given her a vision of all the Sabbath-keepers in the state, and among other things about a woman who claimed to be so holy she did not need the Ten Commandments, but who was represented to her as a corrupt woman. She continued, “I have been writing out this vision and will read it to you.” She had written with pencil upon eight pages of foolscap. MML 28.3

I said, “Sister White, I would like a copy of that vision.” MML 28.4

She replied, “This is written with pencil, but if you will make a copy with ink for me, you may have the pencil copy.” MML 28.5

The copy of the vision described the case of a woman professing great holiness, and who was trying to intrude herself among our people. Mrs. White had never met her, and had no knowledge of her except what was imparted in vision. She not only told the woman’s mode of procedure but also that when she should be reproved, she would put on a sanctimonious look and say, “The-Lord-knows-my-heart.” She said this woman was traveling about the country with a young man, while her own husband, an old man, worked at home to support them in their evil course. MML 28.6

After we had meetings in Battle Creek and Hastings, we drove to Vergennes, arriving about four o’clock in the afternoon. We called first on a former Christian minister who lived in a log house yet three miles from the place where the meetings were to be held the next day. Elders White, Cornell, and I stopped under a large apple tree in the yard while Sister White went into the house and talked about the day’s journey. Soon she came out and said to her husband, “James, we have reached the church where that woman lives.” MML 29.1

“How do you know?” he asked. MML 29.2

She replied, “I have seen the man and woman in this house in vision. He thinks the (corrupt) woman is all right, but she thinks the woman is wrong.” MML 29.3

Elder Cornell, who knew the people, whispered to me, “She is absolutely right!!” MML 29.4

When someone announced, “Brother Brigham is coming,” Mrs. White looked up and said, “I saw them also in connection with this case, but none in that load have any confidence in the woman.” When the next load drove up she said, “That load is divided on the woman’s case. Those on the front seat have no confidence, but those in the back think she is all right.” MML 29.5

A third load came up and she said of them, “They are all under the woman’s influence.” Then she added. “There is one man who is opposed to this woman whom I have not yet seen. He has sandy hair and a sandy beard, and there’s something peculiar about his eyes.” MML 29.6

Just then someone remarked, “Brother Pearsall is coming.” “Oh,” she said, “that is the man who has spectacles on.” There was indeed something peculiar about his eyes. As I was talking with him, I commented about his wearing glasses when he was so young. He explained that his eyes were not mates; one was nearsighted and the other farsighted, so he had special glasses made for him. Elder Cornell and I were MML 29.7

PICTURE where we could whisper occasionally unobserved, and he told me he was acquainted with all these people and the positions they took, and that Mrs. White had declared their positions exactly.

We had no meeting that night. The next morning we went another three miles to the place of meeting. The brethren had made ample provision by seating a large barn, but they had made no stand for the speakers, so we took a new wagon box and turned it upside down to serve as a rostrum. A common light stand was placed on one end of the box, and chairs were used for seats. Sister White sat in a rocking chair at the left end of the rostrum, and I sat next to her with Elder Cornell on my right. Elder White stood preaching at the far end. After he had been speaking about ten minutes, a tall, slim, dark-complexioned woman entered and sat next to the door, followed by an old gentleman and a young man who sat down on the front seat within touch of the stand. I noticed that Mrs. White looked intently at these people. She put her fan to her face and whispered to me, “Do you see the tall woman who just sat down by the door? She is the woman I saw in vision. That old man who sat down in front is her husband, and the young man in the green coat beside him is the one with whom the woman is going about the country. When James gets through, I shall relate the vision and you will see whether or not they are the ones.” I confess I was anxious to see how things would develop for I had in writing in my pocket just what this woman would say when Sister White would reprove her. MML 30.1

After a short message, Elder White turned to his wife, “I think someone else has something to say and I will close.” MML 30.2

Mrs. White introduced her remarks with the text, “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Finally she said, “If the Lord called a woman to the ministry, she would not be traveling about the country with a man other than her husband.” On uttering these words, there was much agitation in the audience, some nudging their seatmates, and whispering, “Just as I told you.” MML 30.3

Sister White came still closer, “Friends, what I am talking about is right here before us. That tall woman who came in and sat by the door a few moments ago claims to be very holy. She also claims to have the gift of tongues. The words she rattles off are mere gibberish. If every nation on earth heard her, not one of them could understand a thing for she does not talk any language. This woman claims a holiness so high she does not need the Ten Commandments. She professes to be sanctified. This old man on the front seat is her husband. God pity him. He toils at home to earn money for her to travel around the country with this young man who sits by his side,-supporting them in their iniquity. God has shown me that with all their pretensions to holiness, this woman and this young man are guilty of violating the seventh commandment.” After a few more words, Sister White sat down. The people knew that Mrs. White had just come three miles from her lodging place, and that the other woman had come two miles from the opposite direction, and they had not seen each other before. MML 30.4

As Mrs. White bore her testimony there was an anxious looking toward Mrs. Alcott, the woman reproved, to see how she took it. Had she been innocent of the charge, it would naturally be expected for her to deny the whole thing. With every eye fixed upon her, she slowly rose to her feet, and with a sanctimonious look said slowly, “The-Lord-knows-my-heart,” and sat down. Then the forenoon meeting closed. MML 31.1

After we left the barn to take dinner at a brother’s house nearby, the woman rallied the people together for a prayer meeting. It was a complete bedlam of voices calling at once, “O Lord! O Lord!” She asked the young man to pray, and what a prayer it was! “O Lord, take care of our persecutors. Send a bucket of tar and a bag of feathers, and a wooden horse, and ride them out of town on a rail,” and many other expressions of similar character. Then for a few minutes Mrs. Alcott talked, making no reference whatever to Sister White’s talk, but went on to teach her doctrine of sanctification. In the midst of this she broke out with what she called tongues. I reached the barn in time to hear, “Kenne kenni, kenne kenno, kenne kenne, kenne kennue,” and the same combined in other order. Then her meeting closed. MML 31.2

It was a hot summer day, and we were taking dinner in a small room. The people pressed so thickly about, stifling the air, that Sister White fainted. Elder White and I offered prayer. The blessing of God came, restoring consciousness, but she was immediately off in vision. Elder White took her up in his arms and carried her out-of-doors among the people who were anxious to see her in vision. Our meeting for the remainder of the day was instruction upon the truths for our people. MML 31.3

The sequel I now relate was told me by residents of Vergennes who carefully watched the case. The next Sunday after our meeting, Mrs. Alcott held a meeting at the school-house. A curious crowd came to hear what she would now say. She made no reference to Sister White, but went on a harangue about holiness. She claimed that she and the young man were being prepared to enter upon a mission among the Highland Indians who lived a few miles away. While she was talking, an Indian lad from the reservation passed the house with his gun on the way to a hunt. Some of the boys who sat near the door asked him to come in for the woman could talk his language. They gave him a seat near the door. As soon as Mrs. Alcott saw him, she broke out with her “Kenne kenni.” The Indian stared at her for a while, then seizing his gun he gave a whoop and started off on a run. The boys ran after him and asked what the woman had said. He replied, “Very bad injun that!” “But what did she say?” they pressed him. He replied, “Nothing. She talk no Injun!” MML 32.1

A son of Mr. Alcott by a previous marriage went to his father’s house and told this woman what he thought of her. He said, “If God has called you on a mission to the Indians, why are you not about it? I don’t believe you can talk the language of the tribe. Will you go with me to the interpreter’s house and talk and have it tested?” She agreed and he took her to the interpreter. “Here is a woman who talks your language. I want you to tell me what she says.” MML 32.2

After she had talked in tongues and prayed in tongues the interpreter said, “Madam, I have been interpreter for seventeen different tribes of Indians, and you have not uttered a single Indian word.” This ended her influence in Vergennes. Shortly before leaving town, the young man friend admitted, “What Mrs. White said about us is all true,-too true!” MML 32.3