Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. Warner

by A. L. Byers

COME-OUTISM RENOUNCED

The following communication pretty fully explains itself. It was written by Sister Warner, the wife of D. S. Warner, the Come-out leader, and editor of the Gospel Trumpet. Those who know Sister W. generally, among the straight holiness people, have confidence in her integrity. God bless her, and may she save her husband from his strong delusions. She desires the holiness papers to copy her article:

Dear Brother Doty: My soul praises God today for a perfect salvation in Jesus. He sweetly abides in my heart, and I do know that his Word is true. His promises to save from all sin and keep in perfect peace are most wonderfully verified in my case; praise his name! Salvation is sweeter to my soul every day I live.

"And how sweetly Jesus whispers,

Take the cross, thou needst not fear;

For I've trod this way before thee,

And the glory lingers near."

Yea, praise God for the cross, and the glory that always follows.

I feel it my duty to say to all God's children, that he has opened my eyes to see the evils of come-outism. I am free from it, and forever renounce it and praise God that he has so completely delivered me from the spirit of it. I am thoroughly convinced that this effort to unite God's people by calling them out of the churches is not God's plan of unity. It simply cuts off a few members by themselves, who get an idea that none are clearly sanctified unless they see as "we" do; and, then, they have a harsh grating that is the very opposite of love. I have found that the predominant spirit of the come-out movement is the same self-righteous, pharisaical spirit that Christ rebuked when he was here on earth. They hold and teach that no one can be entirely sanctified and belong to a "sect."

It is not necessary for me to speak of the fanaticism and absurdities connected with this movement; but I am not at all surprized to hear of men losing their minds after passing through such a meeting as the assembly at Sulphur Springs last November. I have seen more Babylon confusion outside the churches than in. I know whereof I speak, for I have been connected with the movement from its beginning, and, as you all know, at the very head of it. And while I believe it my duty before God to renounce it, and stand aloof from it, I have all charity for those connected with it. I am confident that I have nothing in my heart but love toward them all, and love to my husband; nor do I reject him, but I can not endorse either the movement or its organ, the Gospel Trumpet. I must obey God, and walk in the light he has given me, or forfeit salvation, which I can not afford to do. I have suffered the loss of all things, but rejoice to know that I am counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake.

In taking this step for God I have not been hasty. I have been convicted of this duty for some time. Circumstances and the manifestations of the spirit of this movement have been such for several months past that I fear further delay on my part would be disastrous to the cause of Christ and my own soul. I humbly ask the prayers of all God's children that he will keep me firm and sweet while passing through the furnace.

Mrs. S. A. Warner.

Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Apr. 22, 1884.

Brother Warner deplored his wife's going into print with their trouble. A number of the so-called holiness papers made remarks that were reflective on Brother Warner and the cause of truth. On account of this, he felt it necessary to make some reply in the Trumpet and set forth the facts concerning his wife. In the issue of July 15, 1884, he made a very clear delineation of the whole affair. He showed the sad deception into which his wife had fallen, how it had affected her conduct, and hardened her conscience to do things she was never known to do before, even to being untruthful, and yet publish her testimony abroad that she was more sweetly saved than ever. Near the close he says:

And this is the kind of holiness the sectarian sheets have such a jubilee over. This work of the devil which has at present broken up a family, brought a reproach upon the cause of holiness, robbed us of our sweet child for over three months past, and which has filled all hell with a jubilee, the Highway of Holiness says "should be received with thankfulness." Yes, it is received in hell with thankfulness, and just to the extent that Babylon glories in the same she proves that she is in league with hell.

While our heart is sad for the sake of our dear companion, we have great reason to give everlasting thanks to God for the glorious fruits of these furnace flames. Oh, how our weaknesses have been searched out and our patience perfected!

We would not cast away the gold

We've gathered in the furnace flame.

Nor would we wish again the dross

Here purged in our Redeemer's name.

In the Trumpet of July 1, 1884, a quotation is made from the writings of John Bunyan in which are recalled the persecutions that culminated in his imprisonment. He tells of how Satan, failing in one plan to overthrow his work and make it ineffectual, tries another, which was to stir up the minds of the ignorant and malicious to load him with slanders and reproaches, and finally to have him arraigned and put in jail. With this quotation Brother Warner makes the following comparison:

In all these sufferings Bunyan had, besides the grace of God, the consolations of a true wife to sustain and comfort him. With his great heart glowing with love for the truth, and deep affection for her that had been such a true friend in the past, just suppose for a moment the devil had in the time of his greatest persecution from sectarian idolaters, overthrown his faithful Elizabeth, and so blinded and deceived her as to make it appear her duty to renounce him and the truth he was devoted to, in all the papers of that day. Suppose he had found her all at once fellowshiping his persecutors and slanderers, and receiving the friendship and applause of the popular sects of that time, rather than suffering persecution with her husband for Christ's sake; do you not believe that such a trial would have more cruelly "pulled the flesh from his bones" than twelve years' imprisonment with a good and faithful wife at home sharing his reproach and offering her daily prayers to God on his behalf?

Of course the woman could not have published any sin of the man of God, nor would it have been necessary. All that she would have needed to do would have been to renounce him and the "come-out movement" that he was engaged in under God, and remind them that she "had been connected with the movement from its beginning, as you all know, and at the very head of it," and then throw out a few hints that she had "suffered" a great many things, and that "circumstances and the manifestation of the spirit of this movement have been such for several months past that I fear further delay on my part would be disastrous to the cause of Christ and my own soul." This were sufficient to confirm all the vile slanders that Satan had sent out against her husband, with all who hated the truth he taught. Oh, yes, that would settle the matter. Yes, yes, you know all the terrible things that are reported of this awfully deluded man, and now his wife comes out against him, which proves that these things are true. And if the devil were as smart then as he is now, he would have led the poor apostate guilty woman to put on a very lovely aspect in her public comforters, to the idolaters of those times, in order to have the more influence. Yea, doubtless, while selling her husband to the devil for the friendship of his enemies, and selling Christ, whose truth he dared to speak, she would have hypocritically said, "I love my husband," and "Jesus sweetly abides in my heart." Oh, what a record the day of judgment will unfold! But God be praised that Bunyan was blessed with a true companion; but let him whose lot is otherwise "bind this to him as an ornament," as Bunyan did the vile slanders heaped upon him.

After a few years there appeared in the Trumpet, in the issue of Jan. 7, 1892, the following statement, from a person who knew Mrs. Warner from her youth and who here speaks of her divorce and remarriage:

Nothing has ever been more surprizing to me than the steps she has taken. It may not be generally known that she got a bill through the court at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The grounds upon which she filed her complaint betray a dreadful absence of conscience and the fear of God, stating that she had "been a faithful wife to him ever since married," and that "he had been wilfuly absent from her for over three years"; when the facts are, she had wilfully abandoned him over six years before, during which time he twice visited her and wrote many letters kindly urging her to return and that without any conditions. And she was so far from being a faithful wife that she did not even answer his letters.

Brother Warner did not feel led to appear against her, but faithfully admonished her for her soul's sake not to put on record in the county court and the high court of heaven statements that she knew to be so directly opposite to the truth. And, worse yet, the woman has recently shown her disregard for the counsel of the Bible by marrying another man.[15] We insisted that these few words of explanation be published to cut off all occasion for unreasonable men to speak against the cause of Christ and against his servant.—E. J. Hill.

In the Trumpet of June 1, 1893, an editorial speaks of her death, as follows:

While holding meetings in Portland, Ind. on Wednesday, May 24, we were informed that there was a telegram at the office for us. On going there we were startled with this brief dispatch: "Sarah died this morning in Cincinnati. Signed, L. F. Keller."

He is a brother of the one we ought to be able to call our wife, and this fact rendered the familiar name "Sarah" all sufficient in the dispatch. O my Lord, is it possible that she is cut off in the midst of her days! She who seemed so fresh and well is suddenly called to be the first to break the circle of six children, all of whom were early instructed in the fear of the Lord. Ah, we can not help the conviction that had the dear woman never been alienated by the adversary to break her solemn vows, and held by a blind and erring influence from returning to the obligations of a mother and wife, yea, and had she not been by that influence led to obtain a bill, and that on absolutely false grounds, she would be alive, well, and happy today. But alas, all is past now....

We wrote immediately to our friend who had kindly informed us of the departure of the one who once so filled the vision of our heart, for the particulars of her death, and received a prompt reply that she died with acute typhoid fever, to which was added peritonitis, and that she did not express herself about the future. Out of a full heart we would love to say much, but we have space only for these thoughts. May God comfort the sorrowing mother, brothers, and sisters.

The unhappy woman, having forsaken her God, her husband, and child, became married over a year ago to another man. But alas, how often the path that leads from God is cut short!

As to what became of Stockwell, the author has found no trace. When Brother Warner recovered his spiritual poise, after the terrible conflict at Bucyrus, he renounced Stockwell, and the latter at once dropped all profession.

An incident that occurred at Medina, Ohio, before Stockwell's defection, gave Brother Warner some trouble. A Mrs. Booth had had a vision in which she saw herself caught up with a thousand-dollar note. Stockwell, who was at that time apparently in sympathy with the Trumpet, interpreted her vision to her as meaning that she should give the one thousand dollars to the Trumpet. She then decided to do so and threw the money into the lap of Sister Warner, who refused to accept it. Stockwell then said he would take it, which he did, and with it paid off the debt against the Trumpet office. After this was done, Mrs. Booth came to Brother Warner one day in company with an attorney for the purpose of recovering the money, whereupon Brother Warner adjusted the matter by mortgaging the Trumpet equipment for one half the amount and giving a note for the balance. The report got out in some manner that he had fraudulently taken the money from Mrs. Booth. In explanation he speaks of the matter as follows:

We feel rather like treating with silent contempt the wicked aspersions that have gone through many papers, secular and religious, against our character; but as friends demand it of us we will just say that the report that we fraudulently took from a Mrs. Booth a thousand dollars by mesmeric influences is wholly and basely false. If we have been correctly informed, it was fabricated by a lying infidel in Bucyrus and furnished to a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter by him. That paper, after consulting more reliable parties in Bucyrus, on the 15th of last February published an article refuting all the reflections that had been cast upon us. The Church Advocate, having published the Enquirer's slanders, also took back the charges against us. The fact is, we never had any hand in obtaining that money. We were at our home and knew not that the woman had a thousand dollars or any money at all, until a letter was sent me stating she had given the same. We also have letters from her stating that she had cheerfully and deliberately given the money; that God had called her to do so and that she did not regret the step she had taken. But subsequently she fell through the opposition of her husband and Satan, and we gave security for the money because it was demanded, though we were under no legal or moral obligation to do so.

One can imagine that during his severe trial at Bucyrus Brother Warner felt very much forsaken. But God had many others who were ready to stand with him. There were those who were solicitous with reference to his welfare. In one of the issues of the Trumpet we find this little note:

A brother writes thus, inquiring of us, "O Daniel! is thy God continually able to deliver thee?" Through the amazing grace of God we are able to answer from the lion's den and from the seven-times-heated furnace, Yes. Glory to the God of our salvation, he keeps our soul above the world, the flesh, and the devil, and from all sin. He keeps us from these two opposite regions of death, namely, the cold, hard-hearted, grating, fruitless spirit of carnal sect-hatred on one side; and from the soft, spurious, self-soothing, carnality-pleasing, and sect-compromising, all-bogus love delusion on the other. God helping us we shall never move out of Mic. 3:8 and Psa. 149:6-9.

He received many letters from those who were sympathetic and who were thankful for the Trumpet. The following are a few:

I am so glad to get the Gospel Trumpet. I think it is the best paper I ever read. It speaks the Bible truth.

May the Lord bless you in the good work, and give you grace and strength to withstand all the fiery darts that Satan and his hosts can hurl at you. God and Christ shall be for walls of salvation about you. Whom shall we fear when God is our friend? I am trusting in Jesus for a full and free salvation. 'Without holiness no man shall see God.' It does my soul good to read the testimonies of how God is healing both soul and body, I believe he is willing to manifest as much power on earth today as he did when Christ was here in the flesh. Your sister, saved through the blood,L. B.

We are continually praising God for the way he is keeping you through every severe trial. When we understood the reality of your trials we all wept as if we had been at a funeral. How our hearts go out in sympathy for you! O dear brother, hold on to God; he will not forsake those that trust in him. You must come to our camp-meeting without fail, for we know God wants you here; but the sect people are hoping you will not come. Your sister,M. J. F.

May God reward you in your great work. Some good friend is sending me the Trumpet, and I do love to read it, because it has the right ring. It sounds as if it had been baptized in the Holy Ghost and with fire. I never saw until I was baptized with the Holy Ghost the corruption of sectism. I am so glad that there are a few that do stand for Christ and him alone. Your brother,H. B. C.

My prayer is that you may continue blowing the Trumpet, and that it may always give a clear and certain sound. I had a pretty sharp discussion with a minister today on the subject of sanctification. By the grace of God I was under the necessity of telling him that he was not a competent witness on the subject, having never received the experience. Oh, why will men attempt to explain and preach that of which they know nothing! May the God of all grace be continually your refuge and your exceeding great reward.M. M.

That the Trumpet had the right ring was a fact recognized wherever there were spiritual Christians who had felt the oppression and seen the evils of human control in the so-called churches, and of course that meant in all parts of the country. There were many ready to fall in line with its teachings. Besides Beaver Dam, in Kosciusko County, Ind., and Carson City, in Michigan, as original centers, there had come to be congregations in other parts of the States named, and in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and others. The reformation was in all places marked with spiritual vigor, enthusiasm, joy, love, fellowship, confidence, and activity. People who came in contact with it and who were not already prejudiced by sectarianism, were made to feel, by a spiritual discernment, that "this is the way" and "these people have the truth." A spirit of victory pervaded the work everywhere. God manifested himself by the outpouring of his Spirit and by miraculous healings and answers to prayer.

A remarkable instance of healing occurred at the first camp-meeting held near Bangor, in southwestern Michigan, in June, 1883. Emma Miller, who lived in Battle Creek, had been an invalid for nearly three years. Her eyes had become affected and she had to be led about. For nearly the whole period of three years (or, lacking one month) she had not read a line of print. After her conversion, which occurred nine months previously to her healing, she was plainly shown by the Lord that she would be healed. On being invited to the camp-meeting she was again shown, in answer to her prayer, that she would be healed. She requested her friends to provide her with paper and envelopes, promising to write to them. In this confidence she went to the meeting.

On the fourth morning of the meeting, after continued prayer had been offered, she was impressed she would be healed that day. Brother Warner had been called away from the meeting, but J. C. Fisher and others were present. Here was a case of blindness. Her eyes were covered with a film and the lids were closed through paralysis and she could not open them. But nothing daunted the little body of spiritual workers here assembled. Fasting and importunity characterized the earnest prayer. About 5 P. M. of the day mentioned, while Sister Miller was seated on the rostrum, where she had been requested to sit that all might see, suddenly her eyes were opened and she gazed upon the audience and praised the Lord. The people were amazed. Some fell to shouting, which was heard two miles away. Others trembled and cried. After praising God for an hour or more Sister Miller went out into the bright sunlight without any unpleasant sensation, the first time for nearly three years, and wrote two postal cards. Her eyes became bright and strong. Sister Miller (now Mrs. A. B. Palmer) is still living and has had her sight ever since.

Marvelous healings were common, but as this one was a healing of complete blindness and was one of the earliest cases, it is here mentioned. Another divine manifestation was the power given to the ministry over devils. Since the early centuries it has not been characteristic of any spiritual movement prior to this one, so far as the author has learned, that devils were in such subjection and had to come out of those possessed.

By this time quite a force of ministers had been raised up in various portions of the country. Over in Missouri was a man named Jeremiah Cole, who had been led into the light independent of any human instrumentality. He had suffered from dyspepsia for twelve years; he had been so bad he could eat only specially prepared articles of food. He was instantaneously and wonderfully healed in answer to his own importuning prayer, so that he could eat all ordinary foods without discomfort. His own healing led to the healing of his sister, Mary, who had been an invalid all her life. She began to have spasms at two years of age, and later dyspepsia and other ailments, until her life was one of continual suffering. Through her own prayer and that of her brother, she also was led to claim her healing, and the work was done. Both of these persons became effective ministers in the reformation.

In northwestern Ohio God had raised up several persons (among whom were A. J. Kilpatrick, William N. Smith, J. N. Howard, and Sarah Smith) who also became prominent workers. In western Pennsylvania was G. T. Clayton, and in yet other parts of the country, far and near, were those who had received light on the church, in some cases without any teaching from any one, and who were by the Spirit of God added to the ministry.