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| John Loughborough—White Estate. |
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A Corrupt Woman Who Claimed to Be Sanctified
by John Loughborough
After passing through Ohio, I went on to Michigan and met
Elder Cornell at his house in Plymouth. We went together to
Tyrone, Locke, and Jackson. Here we parted, he to meet the Whites
at Tyrone, and I to go to Battle Creek, Bedford, and Hastings,
then to return and meet him at Jackson. Here a very striking
incident occurred.
When I reached the home of Cyrenius Smith in Jackson, the
Whites and the Cornells were there. Elder Cornell met me at
the door and took me to a grove near the house before I saw Elder
or Mrs. White. He told me that Sister White had had a vision,
and gave me all the particulars. He said she had written it
out and hoped I would get a copy of it, for part of it was about
a corrupt woman they knew, and she had given an exact description
of the case. Elder and Mrs. White had an appointment where this
woman lived, but they themselves did not know where she lived.
Sister White kept asking him if he knew, but he would evade
a definite answer, telling them that if there were such a woman
in the state they would probably find her. I agreed with Elder
Cornell to say nothing to them about it, but would try to obtain
a copy of the vision, and we would watch to see how the thing
came out.
When I went into the house, Sister White began at once to
tell me of the wonderful meeting they had at Tyrone in which
the Lord had given her a vision of all the Sabbath-keepers in
the state, and among other things about a woman who claimed to
be so holy she did not need the Ten Commandments, but who was
represented to her as a corrupt woman. She continued, "I have
been writing out this vision and will read it to you." She had
written with pencil upon eight pages of foolscap.
I said, "Sister White, I would like a copy of that vision."
She replied, "This is written with pencil, but if you will
make a copy with ink for me, you may have the pencil copy."
The copy of the vision described the case of a woman professing
great holiness, and who was trying to intrude herself among our
people. Mrs. White had never met her, and had no knowledge of
her except what was imparted in vision. She not only told the
woman's mode of procedure but also that when she should be reproved,
she would put on a sanctimonious look and say, "The — Lord —
knows — my — heart." She said this woman was traveling about
the country with a young man, while her own husband, an old man,
worked at home to support them in their evil course.
After we had meetings in Battle Creek and Hastings, we drove
to Vergennes, arriving about four o'clock in the afternoon.
We called first on a former Christian minister who lived in a
log house yet three miles from the place where the meetings were
to be held the next day. Elders White, Cornell, and I stopped
under a large apple tree in the yard while Sister White went
into the house and talked about the day's journey. Soon she
came out and said to her husband, "James, we have reached the
church where that woman lives."
"How do you know?" he asked.
She replied, "I have seen the man and woman in this house
in vision. He thinks the (corrupt) woman is all right, but she
thinks the woman is wrong."
Elder Cornell, who knew the people, whispered to me, "She
is absolutely right!!"
When someone announced, "Brother Brigham is coming," Mrs.
White looked up and said, "I saw them also in connection with
this case, but none in that load have any confidence in the woman."
When the next load drove up she said, "That load is divided
on the woman's case. Those on the front seat have no confidence,
but those in the back think she is all right."
A third load came up and she said of them, "They are all under
the woman's influence." Then she added. "There is one man who
is opposed to this woman whom I have not yet seen. He has sandy
hair and a sandy beard, and there's something peculiar about
his eyes."
Just then someone remarked, "Brother Pearsall is coming."
"Oh," she said, "that is the man who has spectacles on." There
was indeed something peculiar about his eyes. As I was talking
with him, I commented about his wearing glasses when he was so
young. He explained that his eyes were not mates; one was nearsighted
and the other farsighted, so he had special glasses made for
him. Elder Cornell and I were where we could whisper occasionally
unobserved, and he told me he was acquainted with all these people
and the positions they took, and that Mrs. White had declared
their positions exactly.
We had no meeting that night. The next morning we went another
three miles to the place of meeting. The brethren had made ample
provision by seating a large barn, but they had made no stand
for the speakers, so we took a new wagon box and turned it upside
down to serve as a rostrum. A common light stand was placed
on one end of the box, and chairs were used for seats. Sister
White sat in a rocking chair at the left end of the rostrum,
and I sat next to her with Elder Cornell on my right. Elder
White stood preaching at the far end. After he had been speaking
about ten minutes, a tall, slim, dark-complexioned woman entered
and sat next to the door, followed by an old gentleman and a
young man who sat down on the front seat within touch of the
stand. I noticed that Mrs. White looked intently at these people.
She put her fan to her face and whispered to me, "Do you see
the tall woman who just sat down by the door? She is the woman
I saw in vision. That old man who sat down in front is her husband,
and the young man in the green coat beside him is the one with
whom the woman is going about the country. When James gets through,
I shall relate the vision and you will see whether or not they
are the ones." I confess I was anxious to see how things would
develop for I had in writing in my pocket just what this woman
would say when Sister White would reprove her.
After a short message, Elder White turned to his wife, "I
think someone else has something to say and I will close."
Mrs. White introduced her remarks with the text, "Be ye clean
that bear the vessels of the Lord." Finally she said, "If the
Lord called a woman to the ministry, she would not be traveling
about the country with a man other than her husband." On uttering
these words, there was much agitation in the audience, some nudging
their seatmates, and whispering, "Just as I told you."
Sister White came still closer, "Friends, what I am talking
about is right here before us. That tall woman who came in and
sat by the door a few moments ago claims to be very holy. She
also claims to have the gift of tongues. The words she rattles
off are mere gibberish. If every nation on earth heard her,
not one of them could understand a thing for she does not talk
any language. This woman claims a holiness so high she does
not need the Ten Commandments. She professes to be sanctified.
This old man on the front seat is her husband. God pity him.
He toils at home to earn money for her to travel around the
country with this young man who sits by his side, — supporting
them in their iniquity. God has shown me that with all their
pretensions to holiness, this woman and this young man are guilty
of violating the seventh commandment." After a few more words,
Sister White sat down. The people knew that Mrs. White had just
come three miles from her lodging place, and that the other woman
had come two miles from the opposite direction, and they had
not seen each other before.
As Mrs. White bore her testimony there was an anxious looking
toward Mrs. Alcott, the woman reproved, to see how she took it.
Had she been innocent of the charge, it would naturally be expected
for her to deny the whole thing. With every eye fixed upon her,
she slowly rose to her feet, and with a sanctimonious look said
slowly, "The — Lord — knows — my — heart," and sat down. Then
the forenoon meeting closed.
After we left the barn to take dinner at a brother's house
nearby, the woman rallied the people together for a prayer meeting.
It was a complete bedlam of voices calling at once, "O Lord!
O Lord!" She asked the young man to pray, and what a prayer
it was! "O Lord, take care of our persecutors. Send a bucket
of tar and a bag of feathers, and a wooden horse, and ride them
out of town on a rail," and many other expressions of similar
character. Then for a few minutes Mrs. Alcott talked, making
no reference whatever to Sister White's talk, but went on to
teach her doctrine of sanctification. In the midst of this she
broke out with what she called tongues. I reached the barn in
time to hear, "Kenne kenni, kenne kenno, kenne kenne, kenne kennue,"
and the same combined in other order. Then her meeting closed.
It was a hot summer day, and we were taking dinner in a small
room. The people pressed so thickly about, stifling the air,
that Sister White fainted. Elder White and I offered prayer.
The blessing of God came, restoring consciousness, but she was
immediately off in vision. Elder White took her up in his arms
and carried her out-of-doors among the people who were anxious
to see her in vision. Our meeting for the remainder of the day
was instruction upon the truths for our people.
The sequel I now relate was told me by residents of Vergennes
who carefully watched the case. The next Sunday after our meeting,
Mrs. Alcott held a meeting at the school-house. A curious crowd
came to hear what she would now say. She made no reference to
Sister White, but went on a harangue about holiness. She claimed
that she and the young man were being prepared to enter upon
a mission among the Highland Indians who lived a few miles away.
While she was talking, an Indian lad from the reservation passed
the house with his gun on the way to a hunt. Some of the boys
who sat near the door asked him to come in for the woman could
talk his language. They gave him a seat near the door. As soon
as Mrs. Alcott saw him, she broke out with her "Kenne kenni."
The Indian stared at her for a while, then seizing his gun he
gave a whoop and started off on a run. The boys ran after him
and asked what the woman had said. He replied, "Very bad injun
that!" "But what did she say?" they pressed him. He replied,
"Nothing. She talk no Injun!"
A son of Mr. Alcott by a previous marriage went to his father's
house and told this woman what he thought of her. He said, "If
God has called you on a mission to the Indians, why are you not
about it? I don't believe you can talk the language of the tribe.
Will you go with me to the interpreter's house and talk and
have it tested?" She agreed and he took her to the interpreter.
"Here is a woman who talks your language. I want you to tell
me what she says."
After she had talked in tongues and prayed in tongues the
interpreter said, "Madam, I have been interpreter for seventeen
different tribes of Indians, and you have not uttered a single
Indian word." This ended her influence in Vergennes. Shortly
before leaving town, the young man friend admitted, "What Mrs.
White said about us is all true, — too true!"
(Miracles in My Life, pages 28-32.)
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