Part 40

It was in the spring of 1891, in southern Indiana, that I first met Brother Warner. I shall never forget the impression he made on me as he stepped into our home. I felt so sensibly the presence of God with the man. He held a two weeks' meeting at our place at that time. A number of souls were saved. Opposition ran high. The meeting was held in the schoolhouse near to a sectarian meeting-house. The preacher who preached at this place tried to get a revival started, but failed. One minister rode all day on a Sunday trying to gather up a mob to drive the brother out of the country; but the people so much enjoyed his preaching and were so won to the man by his gentleness and the clearness of his teaching that they would not rally to the opposers' standard.

I had the pleasure of having him in our home at a later time for about three months. It was at this time that we learned more about his prayer-life. My father-in-law once drove him out of the woods where he had gone for prayer. Those prayers, however, and his patience and calmness while being driven out of the woods resulted in my mother-in-law's salvation.

He had a great, sympathetic heart and consequently could comfort the sorrowing as few men could. He preached the funeral of my little boy, and his words of comfort were as a healing balm. He and I roomed together at one time, when he held a ten nights' debate with a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. Here he again impressed me with his mighty prayers. After going to our room he would wrestle long and earnestly with God in prayer before retiring. I have always felt much indebted to him for his example in prayer and holy living.

C. E. Orr. Everett, Wash.

For about seven years we traveled with Brother Warner in the ministry. Our work was incessant, winter and summer. My intimate association with him impressed me with his deep devotion and sterling Christian character. He was a student of rare ability and an efficient New Testament minister and writer. He was not given to lightness, sentimentality, or idle words. He was sober, serious, and impressive in both words and actions. No one could enjoy his presence and association unless he, like him, would live spiritual and close to God. His whole life and ambition were the spread of the pure gospel and the well-being of souls. He used no empty words in his manner of preaching. His messages were weighty and impressive.

I remember one time in Canada where God's presence was so manifest in one of his sermons that when he was through preaching the entire congregation to an individual knelt in prayer and sought the Lord for pardon and peace. He was a very busy man. He was up early in the morning and late at night studying, writing, preaching, or helping some needy soul. He was charitable, sympathetic, hospitable, and self-denying. His life was full of constant peace and victory. I can not estimate the value and worth to me of my intimate association with him through those years.

He was evidently chosen of God as a great reformer. While he was meek, mild, and gentle, he was heroic and fearless as a Martin Luther. We shall do well to preserve his words of writing and to remember his example, for we shall thereby be worth more to God and souls.

B. E. Warren, Springfield, Ohio.

It is indeed a pleasure to me to contribute a few lines of kindly remembrance of our departed brother D. S. Warner. It was the good pleasure of our heavenly Father that my dear wife and I live with Brother and Sister Warner as members of their household for some fifteen months before he died. I can say with all truth that the gospel he preached he lived. He was always cheerful, kindly, and affectionate in brotherly love to all about him, ready to give wise and fatherly advice and counsel. He was very devoted and much given to prayer in his home. He spent much time in his library with his books and translations of the Scriptures, and did much writing and correspondence, his wife assisting him much. The book Salvation; Present, Perfect; Now or Never, he wrote at this time and he read the manuscript to us before it was printed.

He loved to talk of God's dealings with him; how God led him step by step out of error and confusion and many deep difficulties, how he was violently persecuted by false brethren, how his wife became deceived and separated from him, etc. He would tell of how God revealed to him the sect Babylon of the Revelation and gave him to understand that he must cry out against her and expose her sins; how Babylon loomed up before him as a great black mountain, and that God was taking him as a worm to thresh it, and how he shrunk back at the thought of being thrown against such a seemingly impregnable wall, "God made me see," he said, "that I was nothing but a little mouse, but that he had his hand over me," then he would feel encouraged.

What God accomplished through him some of us know something about, and the results are glorious. Verily he being dead yet speaketh!

Curtis W. Montgomery, 27 Chestnut St., Marcus Hook, Pa.

In the winter of 1888-89 Bros. Geo. T. Clayton and Charles Koonce came to our community, near Cochran's Mills, Armstrong Co., Pa., preaching what was generally termed "a new doctrine," a "turning the world upside down." I was a boy sixteen years old, and the first night of the service walked four miles to the meeting. The first sermon made a deep impression on my mind. During that meeting quite a congregation was raised up for the truth.

A few weeks after the close of this meeting, Brother Warner and company came. They arrived in spring wagons from Blanco, Pa., a distance of about thirty miles. I was working with my father in the field when they passed down the road, singing The River of Peace, and shouting, "Halleluiah!" We never witnessed such a scene. Singing and shouting along the public road was characteristic of Brother Warner's company in those days. At night people would rush to their windows to hear the singing, and remark, "The angels are coming."

In this meeting Brother Warner's preaching was all doctrinal. It was all new to us; but I never was able to shake off the convictions that fastened on my heart that these people had the truth. I said I wanted their kind of religion.

In August of 1892 we attended the Perryville (Pa.) camp-meeting. I well remember going to the depot from the camp-ground for some baggage, and of meeting on the way Brother Warner and company, who had just arrived. At first they did not recognize me; but when I said, "Praise the Lord," Brother Warner arose in the spring wagon and lifting his hand to heaven shouted at the top of his voice, "Halleluiah! praise our God for eternal salvation!" and all the company joined with loud amens and, "Glory to God!"

At this meeting also Brother Warner's preaching was about all doctrinal. The great fundamental truths of full salvation, holiness, the church, unity, the downfall of sect Babylon, and the command to come out of her, the great apostasy, the last reformation, divine healing, etc., were preached uncompromisingly. I will say, brethren, this kind of preaching confirmed the saints and brought out clearly the holy remnant from the folds of confusion and drew the line in the manner that people knew the way to Zion and rejoiced in their freedom. Sinners were soundly converted under this preaching. They were not born dead. People usually came through at the altar shouting. It was not unusual during a sermon to see one hundred saints on their feet shouting and Brother Warner leaping and crying, "Fire! fire!" We all got this inspiration, and leaping and shouting were characteristic of most of the early preachers in the pulpit.

In the summer of 1893, wife and I attended the Grand Junction, (Mich.), camp-meeting. When the train from South Haven stopped at the station I heard a great shout, and looking over near the Trumpet Office saw Brother Warner leaping and shouting, crying at the top of his voice as the saints were getting off the train, "The holy remnant is pouring in." That was a great meeting, the most powerful I ever attended. Miracles were wrought and devils "crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them."

Brother Warner impressed me as a man of deep piety and spirituality. He was very humble and tender-hearted. Many were the warm-hearted counsels and admonitions he gave to the younger ministers, and these were delivered in tears, with a, "God bless you, my dear brother." He was a very able man in the Scriptures, and one of the deepest in prophecies I have ever heard. He was slow to see the faults of others; but able to expose wrong-doing when he clearly discerned it in any one. He was very definite and radical in his preaching, and eternity alone will reveal what he suffered because of his bold defense of what he believed to be the truth. We who knew him best would never question his sincerity. He was a reformer in every sense of the term. The influences of his life and ministry will sweep onward till time shall end. The principles he advocated are more and more being recognized by spiritual people everywhere, and the fires of reformation are destined to sweep the earth until

"We girdle the globe with salvation, And holiness unto the Lord; Till light shall illumine each nation, The light from the lamp of his word."

H. M. Riggle, Akron, Ind.

As a young worker in Brother Warner's company for a few months I was deeply impressed with his kindness, courtesy, and humility. He often exhorted the young ministers and workers to seek humility of heart, and often related an incident of his personal experience in talking with the Lord, when the Lord said to him, "Be humble, my child, be humble."

He had a great burden for the gathering of God's people, the prosperity of Zion, and the salvation of the lost. To this end he dedicated his time, talents, and means, and was so self-denying that he would share his last penny with those in need. He said, when he finished a Bible subject or outline for a sermon, "There's the skeleton, I'll trust the Lord to put the meat on it." I heard him say, "Satan puts us in his sieve that he may sift all the good out of us; God puts us in his sieve that he may sift all the bad out of us."

Brother Warner was a son of thunder in delivering truth against false religions, but as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove in dealing with the erring ones.

Nora Hunter, San Diego, Cal,

I also wish to bear personal testimony of Brother Warner. The first time I met him was on Apr. 7, 1888, at our family home, near Albany, Ill. He with his company were on their return from their Western tour. I had been teaching school in Iowa during the previous winter and had also engaged myself for the spring term, but had a two weeks' intermission for vacation, which I decided to spend at my home. How wonderful that the course of life may turn on a mere decision, which at the time may seem to involve no particular consequence. It was during that two weeks' interval that I met Brother Warner and came in contact with the reformation movement.

On the date mentioned, the little company of evangelists arrived at our house. They were brought thither by Brothers Knight and Daniels from the former's home, near Fulton, where they had arrived the day before. My father and I had gone to engage a schoolhouse for meeting. When we returned two men were standing at our front gate conversing, one of whom was Brother Warner. My father made himself acquainted and then introduced me, informing Brother Warner that I had been converted only a short time before. As he reached to shake my hand he said, so appreciatingly, "Well, that's good news," and there beamed out of those soft blue eyes a Christian love and tenderness that made a lasting impression on me. That he should so rejoice in spirit at the knowledge of my conversion seemed to give me a spiritual uplift and to place my appreciation of things spiritual on a higher level. It seemed that during that week when Brother Warner and company were with us our home was a heavenly paradise. I regard that week as the brightest and most full of destiny to me in all my life's history. There was something about the happy, victorious spirit of those dear saints that exalted Christianity in my conception and made it a thing very much to be desired. The impression made upon my young heart at that time can never be erased.

My mother had been reading the Trumpet and had formed the opinion of Brother Warner that he was a great and wonderful man. So when she met him she exclaimed, "And is this Brother Warner!" His reply was, "Yes, and he is the _least_ man you ever saw."

In the meeting that followed he instructed me in my consecration for sanctification. As I arose, ready to venture on God's promise, he discerned my faith and broke the way before me by claiming the promise with me.

When my mother died, in July, 1894, I was engaged in the publishing work at Grand Junction. The telegram notifying me of her death said also, "Bring Brother Warner." This message was received late in the evening, and Brother Warner had retired. I went to his room and informed him of the request. He was feeling bad physically and wondered if Brother ---- could not go instead. I knew that no other person available could give the satisfaction Brother Warner could, and so expressed myself to him. Finally he consented. Although he was weak and tired he arose from his bed and prepared to go. It was never in him to shirk what might be interpreted as duty. He believed in taking the Lord for his sufficiency, and the Lord did not disappoint him. We had to take a night train for Chicago, and before we reached the city he said he felt stronger than when he started, and this in spite of his having been deprived of rest. He preached the funeral discourse, wrote quite a lengthy obituary and poem, and even responded to a request to preach in an evening service. It was wonderful how he could take God for his strength and his every need. His life seemed to be a constant miracle.

I have traveled with him, slept with him, taken part in his meetings, and have been associated with him in editorial work, and thus have known him at close range and he was always God-fearing, humble, loving, devoted, full of faith, and possessed of singleness of heart, to a degree rarely known among men. His life, so exemplary, was an object lesson of Christian attainment and of what God can do for and through weak humanity. It was an inspiration to feel the touch of his Christian spirit. And thus we exalt, not the man--for apart from the divine influence that ruled his life he would have been very commonplace--but we exalt the God who can take such humble instrumentality and by a transformation of being use it to accomplish his work in the earth. It is the Christ in man that we are to exalt and to follow.

* * * * *

The body of D. S. Warner lies, near where it fell, in a rather lonely spot some distance off the thoroughfare, in the sparsely-wooded edge of the camp-ground near Grand Junction, Mich. This place, where are situated a few other graves and where the proximity to the empty cottages on the camp-ground gives an aspect of desertion, is a place for reflection. Here nature undisturbed, through the succession of bursting buds of spring, refreshing dews of summer, sighing breezes and gently falling leaves of autumn, and rigorous storms of winter covering all with a shroud of snow, is heard to speak silently but eloquently of the brief cycle of life on this earth, of the grave as our last resting-place, and of the fact that "here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." One thinks, when standing beside this grave, of the wonderful accomplishment crowded into that short career, and of the reward of a life of faithful service. And one feels springing from the depths of the heart this choice, that come what may of toil and self-sacrifice in the Christian service, come what may of reproach and persecution for Christ's sake, "let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

FOOTNOTE:

[24] It was characteristic of Brother Warner to give ready and wise response and oftentimes to answer an objector on his own ground or in his own terms. It is related that in a certain meeting after he had preached on holiness an opposer arose and vociferously denounced the doctrine, saying in his closing remarks, "I pray God to scatter this old holiness doctrine to the four winds of the earth." Immediately Brother Warner responded with a shout of "AMEN"! The effect was terrific, and the opposition was confounded.

END OF ORIGINAL BOOK

ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES are added pictures of ministers for this reprint edition, most of whom were co-workers with Bro. Warner in the Reformation.

_Supplement for this Reprint Edition_

Names of Known Ministers Appearing in the Picture on the Opposite Page

W. J. and Luella Henry

Drusilla and Ellen (Trent) Porter

Cornelia A. Sunderland

George W. Johnson

E. M. Zinn

Sam McAlister and wife

J. W. Youngblood

George E. Harmon

Henry W. White

Clara (McAlister) Brooks

Mabel Hale

W. H. Shoot

L. L. Porter and wife

Willis M. Brown

S. G. Bryant

J. B. Peterman and wife

Samuel M. Helm

George E. Bolds

J. D. Ferrill

Hugh Caudell

George Cole

Fred Rapp

S. M. Rich

James Trask

Charles Mansfield

Charles Williams

W. H. Smith

Grant Teter

W. T. Seaton

A. D. Seaton

C. W. Seaton

A. C. Bennett

R. B. Stafford

Frank Porter

A. L. Hutton

M. L. Hutton

Annie Shipley

Claudine Heald

Sister Pearce

Bro. Keeran

The other ministers have not been identified.

=Bro. Charles E. Orr=, co-worker with Bro. D. S. Warner, began about 1910 the publication of the paper, =Herald of Truth=, contending for the reformation truths and against the worldly innovations that had been accepted in the movement by the majority. Also, many other ministers and saints would not bow to the goddess of this world, so the "holy remnant" continued in "the old paths" and "the good way." Jer. 6:16,19. However, this paper was suspended in the early 1920's. Then in 1928 Bro. Orr began editing =The Path of Life=, a paper especially for children and young people. He continued this publication until 1932, when he merged it with the =Faith and Victory= (begun in 1923), and assumed the editing of six pages of this monthly paper until his death in Sept., 1933. Now in its 44th year of publication, the =Faith and Victory= stands for the teachings of the Reformation prior to 1910 and open for more light on God's Word, but not the "new light" which hides or eclipses the precious truth which brought forth this "evening light" Reformation in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

We quote and emphasize the exhortation by Bro. Orr in 1932: "Let us unite our efforts in upholding those glorious truths and keep this reformation moving on in purity and power."

--Lawrence D. Pruitt, Editor

=Faith Pub. House, 920 W. Mansur, Guthrie, Oklahoma=

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.

For consistency, all bible references have been made to have no spaces in the numbers, for example 'Thess. 2:3,4' or 'Rev. 17:4-6'.

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, misspelling in the diary quotations, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example: powerfuly; fellowshiped; fulness; galded; backset; bedroom, bed-room; bloodwashed, blood-washed; fourfold, four-fold.

Pg 32. 'attemp' replaced by 'attempt'. Pg 93. 'tweny-three' replaced by 'twenty-three'. Pg 120. 'p. m.' replaced by 'P. M.'. Pg 158. 'conseration' replaced by 'consecration'. Pg 195. 'dairy' replaced by 'diary'. Pg 267. 'VanBuren' replaced by 'Van Buren'. Pg 278. 'langguage' replaced by 'language'. Pg 278. 'conditon' replaced by 'condition'. Pg 305. 'agressiveness' replaced by 'aggressiveness'. Pg 340. 'word form' replaced by 'word from'. Pg 354. 'consisit' replaced by 'consist'. Pg 360. 'Brothey Key' replaced by 'Brother Key'. Pg 366. 'Sprit' replaced by 'Spirit'. Pg 369 {Footnote 20}. 'La Grange' replaced by 'LaGrange'. Pg 370. 'tweny-four' replaced by 'twenty-four'. Pg 372. 'Phillipi' replaced by 'Philippi'. Pg 403. 'canon' replaced by 'canyon'.