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    15 EUROPEAN DREAMS COME TRUE

    During the winter of 1895-96, I dreamed night after night of being in Scandinavia with Elder Lewis Johnson, and attending camp meetings. Now, as I write these things, I do not wish to set you dreaming, but wish to show that the Lord does sometimes give us instruction in this way.MML 103.1

    At that time I already had a district assigned me, still I wanted wisdom about it. Also, I had been asked to write a book that would be translated into foreign languages, so I thought perhaps in this way I might go to Scandinavia. But I dreamed of attending camp-meetings, and the first one was held in a building instead of in tents.MML 103.2

    “Where are your tents?” I asked in my dream. They replied, “We have a commodious hall in town where we will hold the meetings.”MML 103.3

    “But where is your lodging house?”MML 103.4

    “O, it’s off in that direction a little ways, and a very good place.”MML 103.5

    The I dreamed of attending a second camp-meeting, but upon going there found that this was not a camp-meeting either. They explained, “We could not get a place for a camp.” We then went into a meeting-house, and found that it was constructed with boards running vertically instead of horizontally. Afterwards, I dreamed of going to a third meeting where we got into a boat, and after twisting around through a narrow channel, reached a wider body of water, then over a strip of land into another lake, and then on to the church where the meeting was held.MML 103.6

    When I attended the council meetings during the spring of 1896, and they made arrangements about the different fields, not a word was said about my going to Scandinavia, so I said to myself, “I’ll just write that book as well as I can.” But soon afterwards came a letter from Elder O. A. Olsen saying, “We want you to go to Scandinavia. Will you do it? Brother Johnson wants you to come, for he thinks they need your testimony. We have sent word to the other members of the committee. What are your impressions?” Well, I wrote him about my dreams, then added, “If the Lord is in it, I am willing to go.”MML 103.7

    We left New York City on May 27, and arrived at Southampton in seven days. After spending two days in London, 1Upon his arrival in London by train, Elder Loughborough did not immediately call for his trunk, but went directly to the home of Elder W. A. Spicer. The next day, accompanied by Elder J. O. Corliss, also a guest at the Spicer home, he returned to the railway station to call for his trunk which contained his clothing and a manuscript of a book he was writing. To his bitter disappointment, it could not be found.
    The stationmaster asked, “Did you claim your luggage at the train on your arrival?”
    “I did not think it necessary,” the distraught man replied.
    “Well, then,” said the official, “knowing as you must the customs of the country, and seeing you neglected to care for your luggage at the proper time, it is not strange that it cannot now be located.”
    On the return trip to the Spicer home, Loughborough appeared depressed, and spent the remainder of the day in near silence except for an occasional remark. “I would not have lost the book manuscript in the trunk for $500.
    The following morning, however, he came to the breakfast table in his usual cheerful manner. He explained, “My trunk is safe. I will find it when I arrive in Sweden.”
    “How do you know?” he was asked. “Was it marked for Sweden?”
    “No,” he replied. “The only address on it was Topeka, Kansas. But last night I dreamed of landing in Sweden and discovering the trunk there.”
    Sure enough. When he landed at Gotborg, he found his trunk in plain sight.
    (adapted from Review, 2-18-1937
    we proceeded to Gothenburg, Sweden, where we met Sister Wahlberg, and continued on to Eskilstuna, arriving June 9, and was later joined by Elder E. J. Waggoner.
    MML 104.1

    The camp-meetings were advertised to be held at Eskilstuna, Sweden; Fredrikstad, Norway; and Copenhagen, Denmark. When we came to Eskilstuna, I began to look for the camp, but could not see it anywhere. A brother met us, and we asked, “Where is the camp?” He replied, “We have no camp.” I remarked, “But it was advertised that way.” “Yes,” he agreed, “but we have none.” When I asked about the lodging place, he pointed, and there it was, just as I had seen it in my dream! I hadn’t really thought much about the dream until I reached the meeting hall which looked as natural as though I had seen it before. I said to Elder Johnson, “Well, this is all right.” He replied, “I was certain that the Lord wanted you over here, for I could not keep from thinking that way.”MML 104.2

    When we came to Fredrikstad, I asked, “Where is the tent?” They answered, “We could not find any place to pitch it.” Then we came to the meetinghouse and I noticed its construction with vertical boards both outside and inside. Upon inquiry I learned that it had been made of logs, but they later boarded it up and down over the logs, just as I had seen in my dream.MML 105.1

    While at Fredrikstad, there came a letter from Brother Ottosen saying that we were going to have an outing at Longby, and he wanted Brethren Waggoner, Johnson, and me to go with him in an amphibious boat. The day before the meeting opened in Copenhagen, we made just such a trip in water and over a strip of land twenty rods wide. Now, God may not teach us all by dreams, but He is willing to teach us. His eye is on our pathway, and our ways are in His hands. He will guide us if we put our trust in Him.MML 105.2

    During the month of September, 1896, Elder Johnson and I met with our believers at Striberg, Orebro, and Grythyttehed. It was a matter of much interest to me to be in Orebro, the very heart of the Advent movement in Sweden in 1843, when the children preached. I met several of those who heard them preach, and talked with men who preached when they were children. I asked one of them, “You preached when you were a boy?” He replied, “Preached! Yes, I had to preach. I had no devising in the matter. A power came upon me, and I said what I was compelled to say.”MML 105.3

    One told us of a little three-year old girl who thus preached a short distance from Orebro. There were many of five or six years who preached. I went into the old Orebro prison where Ole Boquist and Erik Walbom were imprisoned for preaching the doctrines. These two young men were then about 17 years of age. Boquist’s sister, 72 years old, lives in Orebro and attended our meetings. Afterwards she told us about the 1844 movement, and sang for us the hymns her brother sang when he and Walbom were liberated from prison. She had witnessed their whippings with birch rods upon their bare backs. When their wounds were healed, they took them from prison and again demanded, “Will you cease preaching this doctrine?” When they replied, “We will preach the preaching the Lord bids us.” they were whipped a second time. Through the intercession of a prominent Orebro lady, they were liberated by King Oscar I.MML 105.4

    NOTE: Loughborough’s presentations in Scandinavia were largely devoted to God’s guidance in the Advent movement. After his return to America, although he no longer assumed administrative positions, he continued to speak at camp meetings and General Conference sessions. In 1900, he made a tour of Europe, and in 1901, a world tour of Adventist missions, including Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.MML 106.1

    The Advent message has advanced with accelerated force and power from year to year, until it has missions encircling the earth. It surely is not because the message is one that is pleasing to carnal hearts that it has prospered; for it carries in its fore-front the Sabbath of the Lord, whose observance requires a separation from business with the world on the busiest day of the week. Neither has it advanced because of no opposition, for this has been encountered from the first, and that of the fiercest kind from without as well as perplexities from within. We may well say with the psalmist, “If it had not been the Lord was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us.... Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:2, 3, 8.MML 106.2

    Not only have we seen the Lord’s providence in the rise and progress of the third angel’s message, but He has communicated with His people through the gift of prophecy. This has not been in the form of a new revelation to take the place of the Bible, but to show there is danger in departing from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ, becoming satisfied with a form of godliness without the power.MML 106.3

    Testing the gift as manifested through Mrs. E. G. White by the Bible rules, we have seen that it stands the test in every particular. In all her writings there has not been found a single line that gives the slightest license to sin, or that tolerates in the least degree any departure from God’s Word. These writings have never placed themselves above the Bible, but they constantly exhort to the most careful study of the word of God, pointing to it as the great standard by which our cases will be examined in the final judgment. In the writings, Christ is exalted before us as the only pattern to follow. He is declared to be our only hope of victory here, our only refuge from the wrath to come, and the only name and means through whom we may be saved.MML 106.4

    After having watched the matter since 1852, I have found that for the most part the opposition to the gift of prophecy has arisen from those who have been reproved for defects of character, for wrong habits, or for some wrong course in their manner of life. Many of the reproved would protest that they were not as bad as the testimony represented them, but time has shown that the great majority of those who renounced their faith, leave the ranks entirely.MML 107.1

    On the other hand, by heeding the counsels given through the spirit of prophecy, and moving forward in the Lord’s strength, the message is fast making its way to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Of the progress in the past we can say that God’s Word has been verified, “No weapon formed against thee shall prosper.” Truly, the hand of God has been manifest in the success attending the rise and progress of this great Advent movement.MML 107.2

    PICTURE

    Rural Health Retreat on Howell Mountain near St. Helena, California. In this area Elder Loughborough spent his retirement years, and died in 1924, at the age of 92. On this site now stands the St. Helena Hospital and Health Center.MML 107.3

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