Experiences With the Pearson Family

During the months preceding the 1844 disappointment evening prayer meetings were held in different localities of Portland to accommodate the many who wished to attend the Second Advent gatherings. A family named Pearson opposed Ellen's falling down in the Spirit. Soon, however, at one of the Adventist area meetings, one of the Pearson family members was “prostrated as one dead.” The young man's relatives “stood weeping around him, rubbing his hands and applying restoratives. At length he gained sufficient strength to praise God, and quieted their fears by shouting with triumph.”¹⁶

Ibid.

The young man was unable to return home that night. The result was a new faith on the part of the Pearson family in the genuineness of Ellen's experience.1EGWLM 922.4

At another meeting Ellen White wrote of Pearson's apology: “The brother who had opposed me [H. Pearson] 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 … he said, ‘When Sister Ellen seemed so happy, I would think, Why don't I feel like that?’ Why doesn't Brother Rich 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 Rich might experience it this evening.’”¹⁷

Ellen G. White, “Life Sketches” manuscript, p. 65. Possibly either George H. Rich or Gardner Rich. Both were members of the Portland Adventist Conference held in October 1841. See “Report of the Proceedings of the Third Session of the General Conference, Expecting the Advent of the Lord, Held in Portland, Maine, October 12-14, 1841,” Signs of the Times, Nov. 1, 1841, p. 113.

1EGWLM 922.5

Almost immediately after Pearson finished uttering this prayer, “Brother Rich” fell, prostrated by the power of God, crying, “Let the Lord work!” Rich then proceeded to make a confession of his doubt and unbelief.1EGWLM 923.1

Ellen White recalled that a few weeks after the above testimony, “the large family of Brother P[earson] were engaged in prayer at their own house” and “the Spirit of God swept through the room and prostrated the kneeling suppliants.” Ellen's father “came in soon after and found them all, both parents and children, helpless under the power of the Lord.”¹⁸

Ellen G. White, “Mrs. Ellen G. White: Her Life, Christian Experience, and Labors,” Signs of the Times, Mar. 16, 1876, p. 116.

Summarizing her experience, Ellen White wrote: “There had never been a question as to my perfect sincerity, but many had thought me young and [impressionable], and that it was my duty to restrain my feelings, which they regarded as the effect of excitement. But all [my] opposers were now brought to see their mistake and confess that the work was indeed of the Lord.”19

Ibid.

1EGWLM 923.2