Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. WarnerByers, A. L. (Andrew L.)
Religion
Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. Warner
Byers, A. L. (Andrew L.)
Church of God (Anderson, Ind.) -- History; Warner, D. S. (Daniel Sidney), 1842-1895
Brother Warner was a man wonderfully anointed of God for a special
work. Since he had received the experience of sanctification, in
1877, the Lord had been gradually revealing to him that the true
and divinely intended state of the people of God was not that of
being scattered in a multiplicity of sectarian divisions but of
being perfectly one in Christ, not only in spirit, but in name and
in visible aspect. He felt that the teaching of genuine holiness
would, in connection with the light of the prophecies bearing on the
subject, bring the church out into her pure, undivided state. For
such a reformation he was indeed a chosen instrument of the Lord.
It was God's truth he was preaching. It led, of course, to a crisis
in which he received much persecution and was deserted by many. The
Trumpet, he realized, was a very effectual instrument God had placed
in his hands for accomplishing the great reformation-work in this
evening time of the Christian era. The time was ripe. True saints
of God in various places, in whom was the Spirit of the Lord, were
desiring and anticipating a oneness for God's people, and when the
Trumpet appeared it was just what they were wanting. The fact that it
was considered insignificant and ignored in popular religious circles
proved its mission none the less divine. God's work is frequently
accomplished by insignificant instruments. The Trumpet shared Brother
Warner's difficulties and deprivations. The description of these in
the spiritual phase will be reserved for the next chapter. What we
shall note here are some of the mere facts of its history.
[Illustration: Fascimile of a copy of the Gospel Trumpet dated Mar.
1, 1881, the oldest in the Company's files. A paragraph from Brother
Warner's notes.]
The oldest copy of the Gospel Trumpet now in the files of the
Publishing Office is of the issue of March 1, 1881. The paper began
with January 1 of that year, at Rome City, Ind. Two issues were
printed there, then the equipment was moved to Indianapolis. The
removal occasioned some delay, so that there was no paper printed
during the month of February. The new location was over N. 70 North
Illinois St. The paper started as a semimonthly, at a subscription
price of seventy-five cents a year. Agents were allowed a commission
of fifteen cents on each subscription in clubs of five or upwards.
Its object was stated as being, "The glory of God in the salvation
of men from all sin, and the union of all saints upon the Bible." It
was a four-page, five-column paper of about 13 by 19 inches in size.
It at first contained considerable matter on prohibition; but the
thing that brought it persecution and isolated it from the fellowship
and sympathy of nominal professors was its teaching against sectarian
divisions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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