Opposition of Formal Brethren
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love and sustaining grace. The brother who had opposed me then rose,
and with tears confessed that his feelings in regard to me had been
all wrong. He humbly asked my forgiveness, and said: “Sister Ellen,
I will never again lay a straw in your way. God has shown me the
coldness and stubbornness of my heart, which He has broken by the
evidence of His power. I have been very wrong.”
Then, turning to the people, he said: “When Sister Ellen seemed so
happy, I would think, Why do I not feel like that? Why doesn’t Brother
R. receive some such evidence? for I was convinced that he was a
devoted Christian, yet no such power had fallen upon him. I offered
a silent prayer, that, if this was the holy influence of God, Brother R.
might experience it this evening.
“Almost as the desire went up from my heart, Brother R. fell,
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prostrated by the power of God, crying: ‘Let the Lord work!’ My heart
is convinced that I have been warring against the Holy Spirit, but I will
grieve it no more by stubborn unbelief. Welcome, light! Welcome,
Jesus! I have been backslidden and hardened, feeling offended if
anyone praised God and manifested a fullness of joy in His love; but
now my feelings are changed, my opposition is at an end, Jesus has
opened my eyes, and I may yet shout His praises myself. I have said
bitter and cutting things of Sister Ellen that I sorrow over now, and I
pray for her forgiveness and that of all others who are present.”
Brother R. then bore his testimony. His face was lighted with
the glory of heaven as he praised the Lord for the wonders He had
wrought that night. Said he: “This place is awfully solemn because of
the presence of the Most High. Sister Ellen, in future you will have
our help and sustaining sympathies, instead of the cruel opposition
that has been shown you. We have been blind to the manifestations of
God’s Holy Spirit.”
All the opposers were now brought to see their mistake and to
confess that the work was indeed of the Lord. In a prayer meeting
soon after, the brother who had confessed that he was wrong in his
opposition, experienced the power of God in so great a degree that his
countenance shone with a heavenly light, and he fell helpless to the
floor. When his strength returned, he again acknowledged that he had
been ignorantly warring against the Spirit of the Lord in cherishing
the feeling he had against me. In another prayer meeting still another
member of the same family was exercised in a similar manner and