Ellen G. White — Messenger to the Remnant

Visions of William Foy and Hazen Foss

The record of this period would be incomplete should we not mention the visions of William Foy and Hazen Foss. EGWMR 29.2

William E. Foy, a member of the “Freewill Baptist Church,” who was preparing for the ministry, was given two visions in Boston in 1842—one on January 18 and the other on February 4. In the first of these revelations, Foy viewed the glorious reward of the faithful and the punishment of sinners. Not being instructed to relate to others what was shown him, he told no one of his visions; but he had no peace of mind. In the second revelation he witnessed the multitudes of earth arraigned before Heaven’s bar of judgment; a “mighty angel” with silver trumpet in hand about to descend to earth by “three steps;” the books of record in heaven; the coming of Christ and the reward of the faithful. He was bidden, “Thou must reveal those things which thou hast seen, and also warn thy fellow creatures to flee from the wrath to come.”—“The Christian Experience of Wm. E. Foy, Together With the Two Visions He Received” (1845). EGWMR 29.3

Two days after this revelation he was requested by the pastor of the Bloomfield Street church in Boston to relate the visions. Although he was a fluent speaker, he reluctantly complied, fearing that the general prejudice against visions, and the fact that he was a mulatto, would make his work difficult. The “large congregation assembled” was spellbound, and with this initial encouragement, Foy traveled three months, delivering his message to “crowded houses.” Then to secure means to support his family, he left public work for a time, but, finding “no rest day nor night,” he took it up again. Ellen Harmon, when but a girl, heard him speak at Beethoven Hall in Portland, Maine. (Interview of D. E. Robinson with Mrs. E. G. White, 1912 [1906]. White Publications, D. F. 231.) EGWMR 29.4

Near the time of the expectation in 1844, according to J. N. Loughborough, Foy was given a third vision in which were presented three platforms, which he could not understand in the light of his belief in the imminent coming of Christ, and he ceased public work. (“Great Second Advent Movement,” pp. 146, 147.) EGWMR 29.5

It so happened that a short time after this, Foy was present at a meeting in which Ellen Harmon related her first visions. She did not know that he was present until he interrupted with a shout, and exclaimed that it was just what he had seen. (D. F. 231.) Foy did not live long after this. EGWMR 30.1