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

by A. L. Byers

We stopped over a few hours in Lincoln, the capital of the State. We viewed with surprize the young city. Fourteen years ago when we visited the place it was small—now it numbers over twenty thousand inhabitants, more than double the size of Lansing, Mich.

That night, for the first time in all our travels, an accident occurred to our train, a slight collision with a freight-train several miles out of Lincoln. The engine being injured, we had to wait some hours until another was brought from the city. During this time there was a very violent wind. The car rocked on its springs like a load of hay passing over a rough road. But we lay down and slept sweetly, committing ourselves unto the Lord. That evening dear Bro. E. E. Byrum, at the office, had a great burden for our safety, as he wrote us the next day. But he prayed for us until the Lord by the Spirit answered him that we should be delivered from all harm. Oh, praise the Lord for his goodness and mercy toward us! For our safety he placed a burden on one nearly a thousand miles away, but allowed not the slightest anxiety on our minds....

Tuesday evening, December 6, our little company took train for Denver, five hundred miles more toward the setting sun. That night we stopped over and had a good night's rest at McCook, Nebr. Took train again at 7 A. M. and went flying over the prairie at a swift rate. Oh, what vast expanse of the broad prairie! Some parts are rough and broken, but the larger portion is beautiful and even and wanting only showers or irrigation to make a beautiful farming-country....

When about fifty miles from Denver, we observed strange blue banks to the west, which we first took to be dark clouds, but which we soon perceived were distant foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. Plainer and higher they loomed up before our eyes as our swift train kept darting like an arrow toward the base. How beautiful and sublime the sight! Here at Denver we are twelve miles from the foot-mountains. They seem but a very short distance, especially when the morning sun shines brightly against their eastern sides. It seems impossible that they can be more than a mile and one half away. A person would surely suppose that he could walk over and back before breakfast. The foot-hills, rather mountains, are of a dark color, being covered by timber, and to all appearance just beyond them rise up the beautiful snow-covered range. To our astonishment we are told that fifty miles stretch out between them and that there is a fertile valley there with towns, etc. The snowy range being so much farther off seems to be but a little higher than the foot-mountains, and both ranges seem to stand together. In the morning they all seem so close that one would surely suppose a man could be seen if standing there in the snow....

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....