Chapter D: S. Warner. A. L. Byers (3)

It was quite a novelty to the company to see the many sod-houses we
passed and dugouts in the hillsides. Sometimes there was scarcely
anything to attract attention but a window door in a steep little
hill. Sometimes we saw upon the level ground a roof about eight
by ten covering a little underground house. Most of such were but
herdsmen's dens. We have not yet begun to work here. Let all the
saints pray earnestly for the work of salvation.

The company remained in Denver ten weeks, holding meeting in various places. When they went to that city there were only four persons who were in the light of the truth, but they left a congregation of about forty who had taken their stand for the truth. Returning eastward they stopped in York County, Nebr., where Brother Warner had labored in his Nebraska mission in 1873-4. A portion of his report from Wayland reads as follows:

We preached and lived in this community thirteen and fourteen years
ago, then a member of the sect wearing the stolen name of Church
of God. The Lord blessed our labors in the salvation of some souls
from their sins, and we had good meetings. There were very dear
brethren and sisters here. But since our departure the work has
retrograded. Some of their preachers became horse jockeys, others
jealous-hearted, dead formalists, too cold and dry to keep men
awake, much less awaken and get any one converted. The one on the
work up to the time of our coming here has preached here four years
without the conversion of a single soul. During our meeting he
resigned his charge, and we are told he has now hired himself to
preach for the Christian sect at Wayland, some of the members of
which were the most malignant enemies and opposers of the work of
grace. An unsaved citizen declared the other evening that about all
the bad behavior and interruption he had seen during our meetings
was by the sinners of the sects.

From Wayland the company went by way of Meriden and Atchinson, Kans., to Whiteside County, Ill., where they held meetings near Albany and also near Fulton. The following is the report, in part, from Albany:

We were happy to meet our dear beloved Brother Knight at his
prairie home, four miles east of Fulton, and he leaped and skipped
like a lamb to see us. The next day we all came eleven miles south
to Bro. A. Byers', whose house is a happy home for the war-worn
pilgrims. The people are receiving the word with much interest.
After several days' work here and as long at Brother Knight's
neighborhood we go on homeward, for there is a great deal to do
at home, some small works to print and the new song-book, Anthems
From the Throne. Praise God for the precious and glorious songs he
is sending us! The music is nearly all written by Brother Barney,
whose inspiration in this gift is a marvel....

O beloved, will you help us? A great responsibility rests upon
us. While we are praising God for the precious light of heaven
let us not forget others in darkness and exposed to the numerous
pitfalls now threatening souls for whom Jesus died. Let no spirit
of the devil nor any of his children tell you that we have any
selfish motive in enlisting all willing and obedient hearts and
hands in doing our duty in the rescuing of souls from Satan in
every possible way. In the name of Jesus we spurn such meanness.
God knows we do not draw a breath for self, but 'for us to live is
Christ.' Are we seeking self-interests, as wicked men have belied
us? Where can any facts be cited upon which to base such an unkind
assertion? On the present tour of nearly a year we have used about
every cent we have received from the sale of books to supply the
needs of ourself and little company. So we go forth preaching night
and day, exposing this poor frail body to the cruel, biting frosts
and beating storms, and toiling about every moment with the pen
except when in meetings or going to and from, and in about six
hours sleep, asking nothing for our labors either from God or man
but the salvation of souls and the glory of God....

Life will soon be over. You must leave your earthly treasures in
the hands of others. Whether they will leave it to serve God or
the devil is not yet known. Therefore, had you not better put a
little of it at least into God's bank, laying it up in heaven,
where thieves do not break through and steal and where moth and
rust do not corrupt? As we return home from this long tour we
feel impressed of the Lord to devote ourself more fully to the
preparation of matter for the press; and we shall pray God with all
our soul to move men and women to provide the means to purchase
paper and other supplies to send it forth. There should be some
works sent forth by the million, free of cost. We feel sure that
God will find willing hearts to help in the work, and shall toil on
in full assurance that when we breathe our last we shall have this
consolation, that we have done what we could to enlighten and save
souls, for whom Jesus died upon the cross.

The company arrived at Grand Junction, Mich., on April 25. Thus ended their Western tour, in which seed was sown in many hearts to spring up and bear fruit for God.

Sister Frankie Miller said of this tour that it was marked by wonderful answers to prayer for rain. It seemed that wherever the company stopped on their way West in Illinois, Iowa, and the other States the country was suffering on account of drought. At every place their visit was either attended or followed by copious showers. At one public service Mother Smith prayed earnestly for rain. There was not a single indication of rain, but before the service was over the heavens blackened and rain fell in abundance. Thus all along their course the drought was broken.

The summer of 1888 was spent in attending camp-meetings and visiting the churches in various places in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Early in the winter a tour was made into Ontario. They found a good many souls in that country who had come out for the truth. Their labors there were blessed in the salvation of others and in the sowing of the good seed. Of the country and people Brother Warner had this to say:

We can say that we find a moderately fair farming-country, and we
can not observe the slightest difference between the people here
and in the States. More than ever we have learned that so long as
governments allow a free, conscientious worship of God, their form
is quite immaterial. We do not see that people have any special
advantages by living in the States over what are enjoyed here.
If any difference, farmers do not pay as heavy taxes here as in
the States. Local option temperance laws are given to the people,
and some counties have no saloons. And one blessed thing Canada
has reason to thank God for is the fact that all liquor-selling
establishments are strictly compelled to close early Saturday
evening and not open until Monday morning. This law enforced
cuts off nearly one half the mischief of the nefarious business.
Sabbath-observance is also far more complete here than in the
States. We were blessed with good order and find the way open for
the gospel freely.

In August of the year 1889, the company again made their way Westward, going as far as Nebraska and returning through Kansas and Missouri. They held meetings again at St. James, Mo., where a mob had given trouble two years before. Some of those who were guilty of that disturbance had become friends to the truth. One old preacher, however, continued to abuse the saints in his preaching until one Sunday evening, after expressing his usual opposition to the saints, he went home and dropped dead near his gate. Before this second visit of Brother Warner to this place one of the Baptist Church members made it known that he intended to break up this meeting also. It was reported that he actually began to work up a mob; but his child had a bean to lodge in its windpipe and died, and this put a stop to the carrying out of his evil design.

Brother Warner intended to spend the winter in Missouri, but he felt drawn back to Indiana. Having a great desire to settle down for a while, he wrote as follows, in December, 1889:

For a long time we have felt the call of God to shut ourself away
with him for a while and let him teach us the deep things of God,
that we may be able more perfectly to follow out the glorious
lines of present truth. We have a great desire to do so, and yet
when hungry souls in every direction are calling for the saving
truth of God it is hard for us to keep from running; but if the
Lord will, we shall pass the calls around to the many able-bodied
and warm-hearted soldiers of the "white horse" cavalry, who are
ready to rush to the battle wherever he leads. We began preaching,
a poor, frail invalid, over twenty-two years ago, and God has
sustained us in a most remarkable manner during all these years
of intense labor and great exposure. Oh how grateful we feel to
our heavenly Father that we are blessed with such good health!
But nevertheless we feel that more regular diet, sleep, etc., for
a season will prove a great blessing, and increase and prolong
our usefulness on earth. We shall devote ourself principally to
Bible-study and poetical labor.

By the close of the year 1889, it was seen that the work had been almost doubling itself annually. That year there had been held twenty-five grove-meetings, fourteen camp-meetings, besides several general assemblies. Quite a strong working force was by this time in the field, and evangelists were scattered out in the more distant parts of the country.

The next tour of any considerable extent was one that took them into the Southland. This trip was made in November, 1890. They intended to make the trip by boat down the Mississippi, but found the water at a low ebb and traveling very slow. They took a steamer at Cincinnati, but had to wait two days before it started; and then it took them four days to reach Cairo. After waiting three days for a boat overdue from St. Louis, they made the rest of the journey by rail, and landed at Meridian, Miss. In this part of the country Brothers Bradley and Bozeman and others had opened up the work. The people were very hungry for the preaching of the word. Brother Warner and the company spent several weeks in the eastern part of the State. His bold manner in uncovering sin and false religion occasioned considerable opposition from various sectarian sources. The country was cursed with a false holiness element called "Straight Holiness," representing the Good Way, a paper then published at Fort Scott, Kans. Its teachers failed in the South to be uncompromising against tobacco and other evils and they incited no little opposition and prejudice against the New Testament standard held by Brother Warner. At Beech Springs, Miss., the mob element was encountered, as is shown by the portion of Brother Warner's report here given:

At that place there are a few Babylon hearts of the most pernicious
hue, men steeped and dyed in tobacco and drunk on Babylon's worst
wine, the wrath of which they infuse into the baser sort. Brothers
Bradley and Bozeman have both been threatened in that place with
violence and, we believe, even with murder, and we could expect
the same animus toward us. Hence, the second night several pieces
of brick and clubs came crashing through the window, all doubtless
hurled in wrath at us. Nearly half of the sash was broken in and
the glass flew over the house. The unsaved were much frightened,
and the whole house was thrown into confusion. The glory of God
was greatly upon us through all the evening, and with the cowardly
onslaught the heavenly tides so wondrously swelled in our soul
that we had to leap for joy in the midst of the uproar. Oh, the
mighty river of peace and joy! The excellent tide of glory only
subsided into sleep at a late hour, and it arose again with our
waking in the morning. We stood only about seven feet from the
window and nearly opposite; but the hand of God protected us from
serious harm. However, the Lord saw he could overrule a slight
glancing wound on the side of our face and nose for his glory,
and so permitted the same. It was very evident in the meeting the
next day that either Satan had made a great mistake or else his
children were more wicked than he wanted them to be, so that he
could not restrain them from their wicked deed, which proved a
great blessing to the cause of Christ. All the saints were able to
see more clearly than ever before the track that Christ and his
primitive saints had trod. And about all testified that they had
reached a clearer experience, stronger faith, and more joy in the
Lord through the last night's meeting than ever before. The meeting
that day was indeed very glorious.

The spiritual condition of the people as countenanced by the "Straight Holiness" teachers in that part of the South is set forth in the report written from Spring Hill, near Meridian:

Our last report was from Oak Grove neighborhood. When we entered
there we found the powers of darkness and wickedness fierce and
black. Threats were breathed about and written notices deposited in
the dark. After one night's meeting in the old meeting-house, which
is a neighborhood building, it was locked up. We went into the
small schoolhouse near by and the Lord most wonderfully blessed our
souls. Satan then had the schoolhouse locked, and though certain
citizens had jerked the staples out of the old meeting-house and
the doors stood wide open, and the Methodist class-leader, being
in favor of the right and truth, invited us to enter, yet because
others were raging we preferred to hold a little service in the
public road, in the bright moonlight. God blessed the songs,
prayer, and a few words of exhortation, and all the people seemed
touched. Nearly every person present kneeled during prayer.

All these circumstances God overruled to the good of the people
and the cause of Christ. The schoolhouse was again opened, and we
went on a few nights longer, with glorious victory. Only a few
sought the Lord; but there was a general blessing effected on the
community in the removal of prejudice and hatred out of many hearts
that had been influenced through lies and slanders, such as of
promiscuous kissing, free-love, etc., propagated chiefly by the
little Fort Scott-creed sect.[21]

It is a bad and fallacious cause that depends upon defamation of
others. The course these schismatics resort to occasions some
persecution and no little hatred, and even danger of violent
treatment, which they will have to answer for in the day of
judgment. But the cause thus bolstered up can not stand, and truth
crushed down by foul means is sure to rise again; and just in
proportion as there has been evil-speaking against the truth will
it enlist the hearts of the honest, and at the same time forfeit
all confidence in and elicit contempt for such as have defamed it
and its lovers. In accordance with these principles truth rose
triumphant at Oak Grove. The people saw we had been slandered, yea
and Jesus Christ also.... The Lord has raised up many friends for
the whole truth in that place, and could we have remained long
enough to make a thorough effort, doubtless a number of souls would
have been saved. But the way is opened for the true work of God to
prosper there. Some who were much prejudiced when we went there,
seeing that the truth of God is in us, had their minds changed,
and their countenances were divested of the sour and took on the
pleasant. God bless the people of that community.

From that place we came to Spring Hill, several miles east.... Here
were a few pure children of God, whom we found yoked up with a
majority who were professing salvation and yet "walking after the
flesh in the lust of uncleanness." In our lifting the standard of
God's Word against such inconsistencies, the wicked spirits were
stirred in the baser sort, so that many threats of violence were
blown about in the neighborhood. But the hand of God being over us,
we suffered no harm....

Oh, how our soul longs to be excused of this most unpleasant task
of lifting the gospel standard of holiness where profession has
been countenanced in lives of filth and idolatry! The preacher
that simply tells the people he could not use tobacco, and even
earnestly admonishes men to quit, and yet receives the testimonies
of men who use it, sets at naught the Word of God, pampers men
in their sins, and prepares a storm of persecution to fall on
the head of the man who comes after him showing the real Bible
line between the works of God and the works of the devil, between
real holiness of heart, soul, spirit, and body on the one side,
and all filthiness of the flesh and spirit on the other. If
holiness-teachers, on going into a new field where people know
nothing about the doctrine and experience, would faithfully tell
them at once that entire sanctification, the second work of grace,
cleanses out of man all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, which
includes all unholy tempers and appetites, that it can be obtained
only by abandoning every sinful and unclean habit and giving the
whole man--soul, body, and spirit--up to God for perfect purity of
life and being, no person is prepared to contradict him, and such
as conclude to seek that grace will expect to pay the full price....

But when men are allowed to profess holiness without contradiction
and yet practise the sin of tobacco-using or anything else contrary
to godliness, they, in imagining themselves holy while living in
unholiness, as well as sinners in general, learn to associate
holiness and filth, and the difficulties in rooting out the
abomination, are many times increased. Men, by getting a degree
of blessing of God upon their souls in consequence of abandoning
some evils, or at least imagining themselves blessed, take the
same as an endorsement from God upon the filth they yet continue
in. The longer they continue in their delusion the more they are
confirmed in it and the more they will fight for their idols. And
their practise justifying the lusts of the wicked, these are ready
to assault and abuse God's ministers, who must declare the whole
counsel of God. And so a lax preacher gives place for the devil and
wrath of men to assault the faithful herald of God that follows
him. So by the fruits of the devotees of rehashed Methodism in the
Fort Scott creed, which has cursed the South and filled hearts with
bitter hatred toward all who follow Christ, and by their strife
and contentions having brought a general contempt upon the name
of holiness, and also by their lack of radicalness against sin in
every form, our work here is beset with dark mountains, which God
alone can remove, but which, thank his holy name, have been much
obliterated in all places where we have labored.

Later, at Spring Hill, the mob element was further encountered. Here, as was always the case where a mob gathered to do violence to Brother Warner, the chief instigators were sectarian preachers and professors who were incensed by the preaching of the truth that condemned them.

From Spring Hill meeting-house, where we last wrote, we went about
seven miles to the southeast through a wild and almost mountainous
woods, to the house of Brother and Sister Irby, in whose dwelling
we remained and held meeting about one week.... A goodly number of
hearers came out through the wet weather, and the dear Lord was
pleased to pour his Spirit upon us gloriously. It seemed that God
had taken us up upon the Delectable Mountains. The leaps in our
soul were too high for the height of the room, as the house had a
ceiling, whereas, nearly all the country houses here have nothing
overhead but the roof, and never has a whitewash brush touched the
walls. Scarcely one out of ten of the houses in the country has a
pane of glass in it. The sisters talked with some women who did not
know what a carpet is. We have seen no such thing here. The people
in the South seem contented with fewer domestic comforts than
any people we ever before met. As one sister remarked the other
day, "they take it out in tobacco." There is much truth in this
statement. That weed deprives them of nearly all comforts and many
actual necessities of life. Of course, there is not the same need
of carpeted floors here as in the North; but how people can live
for years in a house without a window is a mystery.

Well, our stay at Brother and Sister Irby's seemed to my soul like
old Brother Elijah's hiding-place in the wilderness, where he dined
on food brought by angels. We also feasted on heavenly manna, and
shall never forget it. Some came to the altar, and a few cast away
their filthy idol; but we hope the day of judgment will reveal much
more good done than was manifest....

Some of God's little ones came over from Spring Hill, who informed
us that some were anxious for our return to that place. Now, at
that place is where Satan's seat is. Before we left there we were
much impressed that the mob spirit was at work, and one night when
the rain prevented our going to the place, a disguised crowd was
seen going there. But now, hearing that some souls were hungry for
salvation, we ventured back in the name of Jesus.

When reaching the neighborhood, we were joyfully surprized by the
coming of our dear young brother Andrew L. Byers, from Illinois,
who has come to join our little company. Having had a great deal of
trouble and several days' ramble before he found us he was reminded
of Stanley in search of Livingstone. Truly our hearts were mutually
refreshed by his arrival.[22]

The first night of meeting three souls came to the altar, two
consecrated for entire sanctification and one was gloriously
pardoned. The next night the fierce powers of hell were fully
awakened from their brief slumber occasioned by our absence. A
couple of lead balls called buckshot were thrown through the open
window by means of a rubber concern that we are told is even
dangerous to life. These wicked wretches also threw stones with
slings at some of God's saints on their way home that night, even
regardless of women and children in the crowd. One woman was hit.
That was a little the lowest and most cowardly work we have ever
yet met with. The next day four of Satan's chief servants rode out
in four directions five and seven miles to enlist by his lies and
slanders such as were base enough in a great mob to assault us that
night. During the day we learned all about the movement, and at a
meeting at a brother's house we recalled the meeting for night,
seeing no possible chance of doing good.

Hear O heavens, and be ashamed O Babylon, when we tell you that
one of the four spirits that went forth to gather together Gog and
Magog was of the Fort Scott creed, or the Good Way sect, and the
father of the only family of that sect in the neighborhood. And
at his cotton-gin was the appointed place for the mob to meet.
Some five miles away he called on some young men who are reputed
pretty wicked and invited them to join the mob, telling them base
lies. But they, having more principle than he, said they would have
nothing to do with it. They also came and informed some friends of
the Lord all about the plot. These told the Fort Scott man to his
face what he was guilty of, and he said he did not deny it.... We
expected to meet that creed with the Word of God and had hopes of
seeing some saved. But they shun Scripture investigation as a wolf
shuns daylight. Brother Bradley invited the editor and two of the
leading preachers to meet him in discussion, but they have failed
to do so; and now we have discovered their tactics. They seem to
regard slandering and mobbing as better calculated to subserve
their cause than would honest discussion. While we are happy to
think that most of them in person would not condescend to mobbing,
it is only too true that many of them have given their tongues to
slander whereby the other measures have been infused in the baser
sort. May God forgive them for Christ's sake.

There being no meeting at which the mob could assault us, they
beset the house where we stayed until about twelve o'clock at
night. They reported their number between seventy-five and one
hundred. They were armed with guns and revolvers. There were in
the crowd a Methodist preacher, a class-leader with his axe, many
old gray-haired sectarians, men recently out of jail; the basest
men in the country mixed up with a majority of sectites--so we
were informed by brethren that knew the majority that came up to
the house, for a part kept in reserve with most of the guns. They
stated that their object was only to give us orders to leave the
country next day. A brave army, about a hundred strong, gathered
from several miles around, just to tell a few little children of
God to leave the next day, after we had announced in the meeting
that we were going at that time! There were a few fearless souls
present who told them to their face that they were actuated to
their dark work by the lies of Satan and the wickedness of their
hearts, and shamed the Babylon professors there mixed up in common
cause with base outlaws.

The mob hung around until about midnight, clamoring for us to come
out, stating they would not hurt us, etc. But when men are low
down enough to fling buckshot into a congregation and rocks into a
promiscuous crowd, you might as well tell us that wolves and hyenas
do not care for meat as to say that such did not want to hurt us.
Doubtless some in the crowd did not, and for what we know such as
said so did not; but judging the mob by what we had seen in the
past we had good sense enough to avoid such beasts....

After all left the house, not a great way off, they fired off their
pieces, which, for a few seconds, mimicked the din of war.[23]

May God ever bless and keep the few pure children of God in that
wicked region; and may he reward their kindness to us and also
that of the few non-professors, whom we shall not soon forget and
for whom we shall pray that God may bless and reward them with his
great salvation.

Following the campaign in eastern Mississippi, meetings were held in northern Alabama, near Hartsells and near Athens, after which the company returned northward, Brother Warner into Indiana and the others into Ohio. In a report written from Markleville, Ind., he tells of a visit to Indianapolis, where the Trumpet passed through the first year and a half of its existence.

We came on to Indianapolis, where we began the blasts of the
Gospel trumpet. We remained all night, and early in the morning
walked out to the spot where we labored and prayed and trusted
God nearly two years in great trials. Abandoned and hated of all
the world, opposed by all of Babylon and rejected by the sectish
associated holiness forces, we were forced out upon the promises
of God and endured a great fight of faith. All the earth seemed
dark as midnight, and growling letters came thick and fast and
friendly ones few and far between. We were where, a stranger in
a city, without money, friends, or credit, "give us this day our
daily bread," was not a mere formal prayer. Oh, the riches of the
goodness and the wonders of the mercy of God! Surely he hath never
yet forsaken the righteous. Here we labored and prayed in intense
poverty, while the word of the Lord tried us; but his strong arm
hath gotten him the victory over all the powers of hell and earth.
Here we had a temporary summer office on our lot and occupied a
room of the house, about 10×14, in winter. Now a large two-story
building is occupied with the business, and the circulation is
rapidly enlarging.

We went back to the room we had occupied through the night and cast
ourself down on the carpet in gratitude to God. Glory be to God for
the triumph for his mighty present truth!

THE GOSPEL VAN, BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND.--1894. ]

The tour into the Southern States was the last tour Brother Warner made in company with his little band of singers and helpers. After holding a couple of grove-meetings in Ohio and attending the Beaver Dam meeting in Indiana, during the summer of 1891, the company did not travel together any longer. Brother Warner visited the churches in Pennsylvania and Ontario and then spent the following winter, or most of it, at the publishing office. In April, 1892, came a visit to the churches in the West, including the one at Denver. Before leaving home for this trip he suffered from a severe attack of rheumatism, and recovered only by a constant fight of faith. His report from Denver furnishes an example of how he frequently had to contend with afflictions and how he found his victory only in the Lord.

Through exposure in a cold rain at Kenesaw, Nebr., I was taken
with a bad lung-trouble; was quite poorly and had lost about all
appetite. But, thank God, we held on by faith in him and he raised
me up. I was rapidly regaining strength when we left there. But
an apparently congested state of my lungs seemed still to oppress
my being. As the onward-flying train carried us higher and the
air consequently became more and more light, the difficulty of
breathing increased. I also found myself under a fever and lay one
day very weak.

Oh, how my poor soul cried out all the day long for the blessing of
health and strength once more to this frail temple that had been
so long crushed down with one affliction after another! But there
was searching of the heart and consecration as well as prayer. I
realized a sweet willingness to suffer on more and more all the
days of my life, and almost more than a willingness to quit the
theater of this life and of this dark world, which had pressed so
many bitter cups of tribulation to my lips. I did not know, indeed,
but that I had come here to join the dark train that moves silently
and almost constantly out of this city to the large city of the
dead, where thousands who come here to regain health are furnished
a grave instead of health. But these thoughts brought no gloom to
my redeemed soul. Three glorious things lit all up brightly:

First, I knew my soul was all arrayed in the pure righteousness
of God, without spot, and that by the grace of God I had kept the
faith, obeyed God, and done what I could to glorify his holy name
on earth.

Second, whether we wake--remain in the body--or sleep--leave the
body--we shall live together with the Lord. I shall still have a
conscious and joyful existence in a more near and blissful presence
of the Lord after leaving this clay house.

Third, this mortal body also shall put on immortality and be
fashioned like Christ's glorious body. Oh, bless God for the
beautiful hope of a child of God!

Before sundown I awoke from a short sleep, and instantly felt
heavenly sweetness in my soul and comfort in body. Behold, the Lord
had taken away all the fever! That night some of the beloved came
together and anointed me for complete healing. We believed the
Lord granted the petition, and after much trial of my faith I am
now feeling well in body once more and rapidly gaining strength.

His account of his visiting the natural wonders at Colorado Springs is interesting and shows his love for the handiwork of God.

Yesterday we all improved the time in visiting some of God's
wonderful works about Manitou and what is called the Garden of the
Gods. Here we praised and worshiped the true God and creator of all
things in heaven and earth, when we beheld the wonderful works that
his hands had wrought. Here rise from a level surface, or, rather,
project out of the earth, yellow rocks to the height of over three
hundred feet. Some of them look like a great castle, others are
a few thin slabs standing side by side with very fine crevices,
between which were doubtless at one time veins of rock more soft
than the rest, and the stream of time has worn them out. Some of
these majestic formations could be ascended to a considerable
height from one side. On these elevations we shouted the praises
of God, feeling his presence with us. Many smaller rocks of very
peculiar shape are seen in this romantic region.

From here we proceeded to the town of Manitou, which is a small
but very attractive town in a deep passage of the mountains. Here
we found a family that was interested, in full salvation. We
talked with them and prayed with them, and perhaps they will find
a door open for Jesus in that place. We then drove about one mile
beyond up the Ute Pass to Rainbow Falls, after which we visited
the celebrated Iron Springs. The water is so highly charged with
mineral substances that it is nearly as strong as hard cider; and
yet it has what most pronounce no unpleasant flavor. It tastes like
strong soda-water. It is very electrifying to the system, and the
constant tide of visitors goes there to drink the healing waters.
Near the upper springs is the beginning of the cog railroad that
transports travelers up to the summit of Pike's Peak. The distance
up the mountain is about nine miles.

Returning to Manitou we stopped and drank freely of the soda
spring, of which soda-water is a good imitation. Visitors may
freely drink of all these springs and each may carry away one quart
of the precious water. We brought some home, and by adding sugar
and lemon-juice the water foamed up and made a delicious drink.

Here we sit and write in Colorado Springs on a plain that rises
nearly six thousand feet above the place of our home. How pure
and light the atmosphere is! And Pike's Peak near by us lifts its
snow-covered summit over eight thousand feet still higher in the
skies.

His return to Michigan was in time to attend the general camp-meeting, which this year was held on the new ground at Grand Junction. Before the summer was over he received an urgent call to go to the Pacific Coast and to attend the tabernacle-meeting at Los Angeles, Cal., in October. Feeling it the will of the Lord that he go he started on this journey in August. After a few meetings in Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas, he proceeded to Los Angeles, which he reached in time to attend the meeting appointed there. His first report from the Coast, written at National City, is in part as follows:

We were three days and nights making the trip, with very little
stopping. We came over the Santa Fe system. We passed over much
wild and mountainous scenery, but the lofty peaks called The
Needles we passed at night and failed to see. Our chariot brought
us over one thousand miles of desert. The awful blank was broken
only by an occasional Indian camp or village, or a mining-point.
For perhaps a hundred miles or more the earth was as bare as
the paved streets of a city, and for many hundred miles nothing
but tumbleweed had ventured life upon the dry region. But it is
believed that nearly all that lifeless desert would be productive
if irrigated or blessed with summer showers. One thing that broke
the awful monotony of the long, weary plains was the fact that we
were seldom out of sight of mountain ranges. In Arizona we reached
a very high altitude. The morning found the ground covered with
snow and the temperature quite cold. In eastern California we
traveled for hundreds of miles in the midst of a wild mountainous
scenery, much of the time running on or near the summit, giving us
a grand and awful view of the mountains for a vast distance around.
Finally, fertile nooks, little houses, and orchards made their
welcomed appearance, which began to relieve the mind wearied with
the long scene of barren emptiness. At San Barnardino everything
began to look as though we had returned to the land of the living.

A few hours more through almost perpetual vineyards, lemon, orange,
and fig orchards, etc., brought us into Los Angeles, and seeing our
dear Bro. J. W. Byers through the window, we felt like climbing
over the slow-moving people to reach the door. Oh, praise God for
the privilege of greeting our dear fellow laborer in the gospel
of God! We found him and family well, and he and Sister Byers
wonderfully devoted to their calling, laboring day and night with
unwearied zeal for the salvation of lost men and women, who are on
the brink of everlasting ruin. Praise God, we soon saw that their
labors have been owned and blessed of God. We found a precious and
very zealous church in Los Angeles....

Truly dear Brother and Sister Byers have been working the richest
mine of gold ever opened in California. Their toils have known
no moderation. They have indeed, according to apostolic example,
"given themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of
the word." And, thank God, there are those in Los Angeles who
labored with their hands for the direct object of saving lost men
and women, using only enough to supply nature's wants. Oh, that
everybody who professes consecration of self and all to God would
show it forth by a life wholly devoted to the spread of the pure
gospel of Christ and the deliverance of the lost!...

His stay in California was confined to the southern part of the State, where he spent two and one half months laboring in various places. On his return he wrote from Denver and described some of the sublime scenery he witnessed on the line of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.

Some of the most sublime scenery was passed in the night. At
Glenwood Springs the train stopped an hour and a half, giving
passengers a much-appreciated relief from long confinement and a
very much enjoyed ramble amid the beautiful scenery of the little
city, which lies in a small glen, surrounded by towering mountains
on all sides. Here, for the first time in our life, we saw hot
springs. The weather was cold and snow was on the ground, and the
many stony springs and the great hot-water reservoir caused a steam
to arise that made a person feel as if the infernal fires were not
far off. A stone wall separates between two large pools, in one of
which arise many cold springs, and just over the wall the hot water
boils up. At this place is the junction of the Grand River and the
Roaring Fork. Our line followed up the Grand River, the canyon of
which was very delightful. The great red, stone mountains towered
up on both sides in the form of large old castles, many of them
nearly square and others oblong but with square corners like a
building. Finally we left the Grand River and followed the winding
course of a tributary. Now the scene became yet more wildly grand,
which we greatly enjoyed.

At some time past eleven at night we reached the Royal Gorge.
Having requested the porter to notify us, we lay down without
undressing, and so, blessed with good starlight, we were enabled to
behold one of the most sublime and awful scenes we ever witnessed
in all our travels. Here the almighty hand of God had cleaved a
narrow passage through the rocks, which tower up thousands of feet
on either side. On our left we passed close to the base of the
mighty wall; on our right only a small stream lay between our track
and the awful elevation. This indescribably awful gorge extended
perhaps for two or three miles. We stood upon the platform of the
car, at first turning our eyes right and left, beholding with
solemn wonder the vertical cliffs that seem almost to touch the
stars. Finally we had but to direct our eyes straight up between
the two cars and behold, by one straight upward gaze, the cliffs
on both sides as their proud summits seemed to draw together. As
we stood on the platform nearest the rocks we frequently saw the
great peaks leaning directly over our heads. We could not refrain
from crying out, Oh! oh! wonderful! wonderful! Never shall we
forget that impressive sight! It seems to us that we would have
but to make that trip by daylight to be satisfied that nothing
more sublimely awful and inspiring need be looked for amid all the
wonders of this creation of God. We would not have missed it for a
great deal, and hope it may please God to let our eyes behold the
same by daylight.

On the previous afternoon we passed a freight-train that had the
day before been wrecked by running upon a heap of earth and rocks
that had broken loose perhaps a thousand feet up the sloping
mountains and, rushing down, covered the track. The engine and
tender were pitched down the hill and lay upside down, under which,
alas, the fireman had met his death, or rather he lay with his
limbs crushed beneath the engine for over four hours and expired a
short time after being taken out.

But as we went flying along under the lofty cliffs and around
the short curving niches that were cut out of the solid rocks,
sometimes at a height that made one feel giddy to look down, we
thought how the strength of the everlasting hills is our Father's,
and that his wings overshadowed us by the way. We felt no fear of
harm.

His poem Good-by, Old Rockies, was written at this time. He arrived home February 16. With the portion of his report written after he had returned from his California tour we close this chapter.

Never in all our past journeyings did our soul seem so thankful
and joyful before God for the privilege of greeting all the dearly
beloved ones at home once more. Oh, bless the name of the Lord. We
knew not how to thank God enough nor scarcely how to act for the
great joy of our heart. Let all the dear saints help us bless the
name of the Lord for his wonderful care over us during the travel
of over ten thousand miles since our departure last July.

Our flying abroad has not been in vain. All along the line of our
tour God has been with us and saved souls at every stopping-place,
with perhaps two exceptions. Thank Heaven also for the blessing
of good health! How wonderfully he strengthened us to preach his
everlasting gospel, often twice a day and sometimes on Sabbath
three times, putting in as much as eight hours swift talk in one
day, added to which was the earnest altar service and the care for
immortal souls! We feel especially thankful to God for the grace
of our Lord and Savior that we find resting upon all the beloved
family.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Desiring to trace the earlier history of the Gospel Trumpet, I have permitted the preceding chapter to overlap this one a few years.

[13] She relates that her consecration occurred in the house of an Elder Walker, and that so great was the power and manifestation of God in Brother Warner while he was praying for her that Walker and his wife through fright fled into another room, where he was found squatted in a corner. In Brother Warner's report of this trip he speaks of a meeting near Lacey's Lake (in Eaton or Barry County) as follows: "Was happy at this place to meet a people who have come out of various denominations, ignoring human creeds and sects and endeavoring to walk in the oneness of the Spirit."

[14] This vision is very similar to the one recorded in the Shepherd of Hermas, in the second century. It was a remarkable coincidence that while Sister Fisher had never heard of the vision of the Shepherd of Hermas, she and her husband had ordered the set of books known as the Apostolic Fathers (in which the Shepherd of Hermas is included), and on the same day of her vision the books were received and unpacked, and on looking into them her husband opened right at the vision in the Shepherd of Hermas. They were astonished to find that her vision was there recorded and explained as the church.

[15] Once after her second marriage, while living in Cincinnati, she wrote a letter to her boy, Sidney, who was in the care of his father. Brother Warner had been to visit her twice since their separation, and he was constrained to go again. So he took the boy and went to the city address as given in her letter. She happened not to be at the house just then. So the two walked about leisurely until she should return. While on the opposite side of the street from her house they saw her returning. She reached the house first and entered the hall and stood waiting for them. When they reached the door she railed out in terrible abuse on her former husband. That was his only reception. He had on his former visits to her felt the Spirit dictating that there was no hope of a reconciliation; and likewise on this occasion, as his child clung the closer to him, the Spirit said, "It is enough; leave off thy fond pursuit."

[16] In reference to this apparent instance of a person's being in a justified state while at the same time in possession of evil spirits it can be said, without attempting an explanation of whether such might be possible, that Brother Warner was always very particular to insist on justification as an essential condition to sanctification, and that if we knew all the circumstances in this case (allowing that the account may not be full) there probably would be no question in our minds.

[17] Brother Leininger relates that at this meeting a Dunkard minister drew his fist to strike him. A daughter of this preacher was a hired helper in Brother Leininger's family. She had obtained the experience of sanctification, which angered her father. As Brother Leininger was going out of the meeting-house, this man stood at the door ready to do violence to him. He drew back his fist to strike, but it seems his blow was rather misdirected, as his thumb nail grazed his own nose and tore loose a bit of skin, so that he went home bleeding and discomfited.

[18] A man who lived in the neighborhood said in one of the meetings that he was going to kick Brother Warner. As the latter was among the last to pass out of the building, this man lingered at the door, while the crowd was waiting to see him do the deed. As Brother Warner passed out he raised his foot to kick, but he did not kick. He was asked why he did not. His reply was, "I was afraid the Lord would kick me". This man accepted the truth and became one of the permanent fixtures in the church in that place.

[19] On the second Sunday the meeting was held in the grove. After the people had assembled a very frightful storm threatened, and people began to leave. Brother Warner stopped in the midst of his preaching, and with his hand lifted to heaven prayed God to scatter the storm and not let it hinder the meeting. He assured the people that they need not leave, that it would not rain. Some had begun to depart but stopped to see whether his prayer would be answered. It did not rain. There were other instances of this kind in Brother Warner's career.

[20] An interesting episode in connection with this trip is related by Bro. D. Leininger, of Beaver Dam, whose mother, known as Mother Krause, was at this time not expected to live. Mother Krause had for some cause held a slight grievance against Brother Warner. Early in December, on the night before she died, she declared she must see Brother Warner and begged to have him sent for. She was told that Brother Warner was over in LaGrange County, quite a distance away, and that if the Lord wanted her to see him he would spare her life until she should have that opportunity. Scarcely had this been said when Brother Warner arrived, to the surprize of all.

Two days before, where he had been holding meetings, he expressed the conviction that the Spirit bade him go to Beaver Dam. Accordingly it was decided to go, and he resumed his writing, at which he had been engaged, until the time to start. Perceiving that no preparations were being made he dropped his pen and asked the cause. He was told that the weather was inclement and that traveling would be disagreeable. He said, "Never mind the weather; the Lord can take care of that. The Lord says, 'Go to Beaver Dam'." Thus it was that he and his company were prompted to make the trip. Landing at Bro. William Ballenger's, they stayed over night. In the latter part of the night Brother Warner awoke Brother Ballenger and said he must go to see Mother Krause immediately.

Mother Krause died the following evening, but not before she was comforted by the presence of Brother Warner.

[21] In addition to this a letter had been received in the community, from Carthage, Mo., written by an opposer who misrepresented the saints as believers in amalgamation with the colored people, the purpose of the letter being, of course, to stir up prejudice.

[22] These meetings in the vicinity of Spring Hill were almost the author's first experience in gospel work. I was asked to join the company to supply a missing part in song, Mother Smith having dropped out previously. After arriving at Meridian it was some time before I could locate Brother Warner.

[23] To one unaccustomed it was hard to realize that opposition to the truth would take the form of a mob. We were quartered at the house of a Brother Smith. When the mob first came, Brother Warner asked if I wished to join him in his escape from the house. I then accompanied him to the pine woods some distance from the dwelling, and we remained there until we could hear that the mob had left. Bro. B. E. Warren had found a hiding-place under the house. The first company of men that came proved to be only a detachment, and the mob afterward came in greater force. This second time I remained in the house with the women folks, while Brothers Warner and Warren took the hiding under the building. The men wanted Brother Warner and lingered at the gate for some time talking with Brother Smith, who would not allow them within the gate except to see for themselves that Brother Warner was not in the house. Finally, after learning that I was present, they asked to see me, whereupon I went out and talked with them from the porch. They asked a number of questions and then left.

[Music: Sing It Again.