A Prediction Fulfilled

In the summer of 1845, by invitation of Otis Nichols, Miss Harmon visited Massachusetts, her sister Sarah accompanying her. They made their home with the family of Mr. Nichols. He and his wife would go with their carriage, and take them to different places to hold meetings, where Miss Harmon delivered her testimonies. Thus she was able to visit Boston, Roxbury, and Carver. At the time of their second visit to Boston, Mass., a very interesting incident occurred.GSAM 240.4

There was in Boston and vicinity a company of fanatical persons who also held that it was a sin to labor, their principal message being, “Sell that ye have, and give alms.” They said they were in the jubilee, that the land should rest, and that the poor must be supported without labor. Sargent, Robbins, and some others were leaders. They denounced the visions as being of the devil, because their own errors had been shown. They were severe upon all who did not believe with them.GSAM 240.5

While Miss Harmon and her sister were visiting at the house of Mr. Nichols, Sargent and Robbins came from Boston to obtain a favor of him, and said they had come to have a visit, and to tarry over night with him. Mr. Nichols replied that he was glad they had come, for Misses Sarah and Ellen Harmon were in the house, and he wished them to become acquainted with them. They changed their minds at once, and could not be persuaded to come into the house. Mr. Nichols asked if Ellen could relate her message in Boston, and if they would hear, and then judge. “Yes,” said they, “come into Boston next Sabbath [meaning Sunday, as they had not yet received the Sabbath]; we would like the privilege of hearing her.”GSAM 241.1

Mr. Nichols related this to me at his house, in Dorchester, in 1858. He said that he had made all his calculations to go to Boston on Sabbath morning with his carriage to take Miss Harmon to the proposed meeting. That evening, during family prayers, she was taken off in vision. After coming out of it, she said, “Brother Nichols, I am not going to Boston to-morrow; the Lord has shown me that I must go to Randolph. He has a work for me to do there.” Mr. Nichols had a great regard for his word. He had promised to take her to Boston the next day, and he anxiously inquired, “What shall I do with my word to Sargent and Robbins?” “Never mind that,” said Miss Harmon, “the Lord has bidden me go the other way.” “Well,” said Mr. Nichols, “I do not understand it.” “The Lord showed me that we would understand it when we get there,” said Miss Harmon. “Well,” said Mr. Nichols, “there is no way for you to get there unless we go and take you, but I do not know how I will explain matters to the brethren in Boston.” Mr. Nichols further stated to me that “Sister Harmon saw their hypocrisy in the vision, that there would be no meeting in Boston on the Sabbath, that Sargent, Robbins, and others opposed would meet with the large company at Randolph (thirteen miles from Boston) on the Sabbath; and that we must meet the opposers at Randolph, at their meeting on the Sabbath, and there she would have a message given her for them, which would convince the honest, the unprejudiced ones, whether her vision were of the Lord or from Satan.” Instead of going to Boston and then to Randolph, making a distance of twenty-two miles, they went direct to Randolph, arriving there about meeting time. There they found the very ones who had agreed to meet them in Boston. Mr. Nichols then said, “I understand it now.”GSAM 241.2

This effort of Sargent and Robbins to evade Miss Harmon’s testimony, and the manner in which she was directed so as to meet them, had great influence on the minds of some who were present. Of the meeting itself, I will quote the account as given by Mr. Nichols:—GSAM 242.1