Daniells’ Visit With Davis
Sensing that time was of the essence, Daniells traveled to Ballarat immediately, on the return swing from a trip to Adelaide, intending to devote his weekend there to efforts in counseling Davis.GVEGW 117.2
A meeting was arranged at Davis’s home on Friday evening following a service at the local church. Davis’s wife was present. As Daniells later recalled, before an audience of Australian church leaders in New South Wales:GVEGW 117.3
“When I began reading it to him, he became very much excited. After a little, I heard some sort of disturbance, and looking up, saw him with an open knife in his raised hand. I asked, ‘What is the matter?’ He grated his teeth and glared at me like a madman.GVEGW 117.4
“His wife and I appealed to him to put the knife down, but he was menacing us so wildly that I did not dare to go on reading. I did not know whether he would thrust it into me or his wife or himself. I said, ‘Let us kneel down and pray to God. There is a God in Israel who can help us, and we must have His help.’GVEGW 117.5
“We knelt down, and I may tell you that I was never in a more perplexing place. I knew that demons were in the room and I knew that we must have the power of that same Christ who subdued demons and cast out devils while among men.GVEGW 117.6
“The first thing I said was ‘O Lord, we come to Thee in the all-prevailing name of Jesus.’ At the mention of the name Jesus, that man hurled his knife across the room with terrible violence. At the mention of the all-powerful name of Jesus he broke into sobs and the violence disappeared. After his wife and I had prayed, he prayed most earnestly to God to deliver him from those tormenting devils.GVEGW 117.7
“When we arose I finished reading the message, and then asked him to tell us what he knew about the truthfulness of this message. I had not known anything of this before.GVEGW 117.8
“He said, ‘Brother Daniells, every word of it is true. For weeks I have been tormented by these evil spirits. I have been thrown out of my bed, and I have been hammered on the floor by those demons; it has wrecked my nerves, and I was about to give up to them and become their obedient slave again.’” 30Ministerial Institute address, June 25, 1928; transcript in Australasian Record, Aug. 13, 1928.GVEGW 117.9
Writing to Mrs. White a more complete account of what transpired, on September 12, 1897, Daniells said that Davis “described the spirit that had followed him.... It purports to be the spirit of an Oriental from Tibet. This spirit has appeared to Brother Davis over and over again. He has a white beard and wears a turban.... The last time this spirit appeared to him ... Brother Davis had just gone to bed when it approached him with a terrible countenance. On reaching the bedside, it laid one hand upon him, and raised the other hand and swore that he would kill him. Brother Davis cried out in agony, and it left. He says that the awful visage of that spirit remained in his mind so that he could hardly sleep that night. It seemed to him that if it appeared to him again, it would surely end his life.” 31A. G. Daniells to Ellen G. White, Sept. 12, 1897, p. 2. Received by Mrs. White three days later (Ms 176, 1897, p. 16). Note: Daniells evidently typed this letter himself, as it is filled with numerous strikeovers and typographical errors. I have here corrected the text, also adding capitalization to references to the Deity, lest the reader become distracted by the clutter that would be caused by reproducing an exact transcript with each typographical error faithfully noted. Incidentally, Daniells, interestingly, does not mention Davis’ knife-throwing incident in this letter, though he does refer to it in his 1928 remarks back in Australia.GVEGW 118.1
Daniells also described the experience when he uttered the name of Jesus in his prayer of deliverance:GVEGW 118.2
“We bowed down, and the moment I mentioned the name of Christ, the room seemed flooded with the presence of the divine Being. I do not think I ever experienced anything like it in connection with other persons. I have a few times when alone felt the wonderful presence of God as I did that night, but I do not remember ever having done so in company ... [with any] one else. We all realized in a moment that Christ was in the room, and that Satan’s power was broken.... We could do nothing but praise the Lord. We did not have to ask Him to rebuke the enemy, for we knew that Jesus was there, and that Satan had left us.... There was no question with us but what our Saviour was standing in the room.” 32Testimonies for the Church 4:1, 2.GVEGW 118.3
Daniells then gave his own reaction to all that had transpired:GVEGW 118.4
“I have always shrunk from meeting the devil in that form, and have dreaded the idea of having to rebuke Satan. But when I saw how the mention of the name of Christ in living faith broke the power of the enemy, scattered his darkness, and filled our hearts with light and joy and peace, I received new impressions in regard to meeting the power of the enemy.” 33Testimonies for the Church 4:3.GVEGW 118.5
The president concluded his letter to Mrs. White with this observation:GVEGW 118.6
“The Lord has shown Himself ready to give the man complete deliverance. It rests altogether with Brother Davis himself. If he will believe God and abide in Him, he will be a free man. I shall write to him at once, urging him to be very careful not to lose the Saviour a single day. If he does, he will lose the blessing he has received. If you have any further light on his case I shall be very glad to receive it.” 34Testimonies for the Church 4:4. Davis also wrote a 10-page letter to Mrs. White relating details of Daniells’ interview with him at Ballarat. He incorrectly dates it as August 5; in all probability it should have been dated September 5.GVEGW 118.7
On October 10, 1897, Davis wrote to inform Mrs. White of the birth of another child the day previously, to ask for a personal copy of the testimony that Daniells had read to them, and to report: “Now I have a continual experience of the presence and communion of heavenly intelligences stimulating my love for truth and righteousness and cheering me in the blessed hope of present victory and future rapture. Both my wife and I are rejoicing in this liberty.” 35Nathaniel Davis to Ellen White, Oct. 10, 1897, p. 1.GVEGW 119.1