(The Recovery of the Apostolic) 3. the Anabaptist View of the Church — Dale Heisey

Shall we join our hearts and voices in prayer, adding, Our Father in Heaven, we pray that you would help us to understand the beautiful power and simplicity of that holy body of the Church which is here to represent thee on this earth today, here in Christ's stead.

And, O Father, the Lord Jesus Christ would be head supreme, and his Spirit would provide the life and supply the power for the effective working of thy body in this earth. We pray for glory to ascend to thy throne today, from the hearts of those gathered here together in worship.

O Father, be exalted in our hearts, be lofty in our minds, and may we bow our hearts humbly before thee, O God, for who are we to have been called into the household of faith, O Father? And so renew thy Spirit within us, that I may worship thee in spirit and in truth, we pray through Jesus.

Amen. I am sure that most of you are aware that on the triple crown of the Pope of Rome, there are these three words written in Latin, decadius, filia, dea. What do these words mean? Decadius, of course, means in place of, or in the stead of, as he substitutes for.

In place of, filia, filio, Philadelphia, brotherly love, filia means brother or son, and deo is God. In place of, the Son of God, I am here instead of Jesus Christ being here. To see me is to see Christ.

I am here in the place of Jesus. I have the authority of God. I have the authority of Christ. I am here in place of Christ, decadius, filia, dea. How corruptible, how terrible, for a man to take upon himself such presumption.

Christ Alone as Head of the Church

And so we have someone usurping the Lord Jesus Christ as head of the Church. We now have another head. We have a human head in the Bascilia at Rome. But I am conscious this afternoon that a person does not need to wear such a sign on his forehead in order to represent Christ, or rather, to take the place of Christ on this earth.

I recognize with you that there could be other ways to replace Christ as head of the Church, other ways besides just placing X number of words across our foreheads or upon our crowns. And anything that replaces Christ as the head of the Church is not apostolic.

And so may he be returned to his lofty and holy place as head of his own body. When we talk about the Church this afternoon, we're talking about one of the most beautiful concepts that ever has emerged in Scripture, and that is this concept of a body that is not only universal in time, but universal around the world.

The Universal Church Worshiping Christ

And that hymn we sang, particularly the third stanza of that hymn, calls attention to the universality and the worldwide nature, the all-inclusive aspect of this holy rise of Church. And I realize that a person cannot speak on these subjects without a degree of eschatology entering into a person's thinking.

And we're not here to discuss controversial issues this afternoon, but there are four in twenty elders in that book of Revelation that kneel down before the throne and before the Lamb and worship Him and serve Him day and night.

And we take the position that these represent the culmination of the people of God throughout time. And we want to be part of such a holy army, a holy apostolic train that joins the sacred name to hallow even this hour.

For there is no more beautiful function, there is no more noble calling that you and I have as the saints of God, as part of the Church this afternoon, than to worship Him. That's the reason why we're here.

And all service that we would render on the part of our God, or because of our serving the kingdom, because of our loving the Lord, is all subservient to our worshiping and adoring the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And His servants who serve Him day and night, what do they do? They worship God. And for those of you and I who are here, whose lives are a continual testimony of the service of our God and worship and praise to Him, then to such as that will come those who are seeking the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who are worshiping Him, and to those from whose lives there flows forth the glory of God from the heart of these mortal creatures.

And so may we worship Him. If there's anything that a recovery of apostolic vision will need to teach us as a people, it is how to worship God. We ought to have another six lessons when these are over on just that theme.

How to worship the God of glory. And so we join the sacred name to hallow of the saints and martyrs of all times, persecuted brethren in Russia, wherever they are, in Poland, in Romania, wherever they find themselves at this hour, in El Salvador, wherever it might be.

And we join with them in spirit to the praise of our God. And so we're a universal and a worldwide fellowship here this afternoon. And no other name but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as head do we bear.

And upon His word do we build our foundation, do we build our cause. And then, not only is it worldwide in this scope, but also as we've said, it is universal in time, including those martyrs already gone on, those who have laid down their witnesses and have already cast their crowns at the feet, the brazen feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, the burning feet pictured there, portrayed in chapter one of the great revelation.

The Spirit of God as the Church’s Necessary Life

And so may we join in such a cause this afternoon. I fear something that could happen to us. I would fear if in this meeting we meet each other again, we having lost something of the Spirit of God directing us and leading us in life, having lost that, are able to maintain our function, continue our program as if the Spirit of God was still there when He is gone.

And I think it's good for us to consider some building safeguards early in our experience and understanding of the scriptures so that we are helpless, we are unable, we are anemic, we are powerless to go forward without the Spirit of God upon us.

I am thinking this afternoon of a school that has had serious spiritual and social problems since their inception, and there were some real difficulties there, some internal strife between brethren that caused the school to come into real difficulty at this place in their school term.

And I would wish that those brethren there in charge, many illustrations could otherwise be given, would realize that we do not go forward without the blessing of God upon us. Let us open our hearts to find out what is wrong.

But you see, we have organizations, and we have strength, and we have a lot to draw from. We have a lot of resources, and we could just simply expel some and include some others and make some changes, and this thing will go on.

This thing will go on. This thing will go on. Dear brethren, I am not satisfied to go on unless the Spirit of God is going with us. Let us be satisfied in all that we are doing in our own efforts to bring to pass something that God is not behind, and we want that to quickly come to naught.

And so we lay that again before you this afternoon. Along with that challenge, I want to invite this from you. We welcome you to share with us any wrong thinking that we are purporting here, any error in our understanding.

We are men, and we are faulty, and we are fallible. And we don't want to in any way discredit or shame the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ by making any errors or giving any false pretenses here. And so please help us with this.

The Anabaptist Recovery of the Church

We desire to serve the Lord, and so we invite you to correct us in any error that we might make. The Anabaptists received as much difficulty and oppression from their peers as was on this subject their view of the Church.

It was a matter in that time of restoring something that was lost. But the Reformers, as Lutheran Reformers and the Zwingli Reformers and so on in Zurich, in Switzerland, both had this view. How shall we rebuild?

How shall we restore this Church which has fallen? For it was Luther's belief, and Zwingli's, and the Anabaptist brethren as well, that the Church had fallen. But just what was the nature of that fall was a point of real controversy.

Now, I could take you through history this afternoon and bore you possibly by showing you where Luther placed the fall, and where Zwingli placed the fall, and Calvin a different place, and Judd and Knox a different place.

But I'll just give the Anabaptist view of it. They felt that the Church became fallen when Constantine united together Church and State. You've heard us refer to this every time in these meetings so far.

So there's the Church fallen as they understood it. When the whole community, apart from regeneration, apart from the new birth, apart from the Spirit of God, bringing together those whom He has redeemed, apart from that, some geographic or political area, all was now part of the Church.

Apostolicity as Faithful Present Obedience

And so they wondered what type of Church should take the place of the old Church. Now, apostolicity in this time in which we're looking this afternoon meant two things to these two different groups of people.

In this sense, Catholicism and Lutheranism and the Reformed Movement all saw this thing the same. For them, apostolicity was that I have authority, I have a right to be a Church because I can trace my history back through a line of apostolic succession, back through Peter, if you please, to the call of the disciples.

And so, in that sense of the word, Luther himself and Zwingli, having been ordained priests, were in that sense considering their calling and their right to establish a Church valid because of that line through which they had come.

Now, that does not sound to me too very different from any concepts that are alive today, does it? But the Anabaptists saw a different view of true apostolic position. They felt that an apostolic Church was not one that could trace its history through a line.

It was rather a group of people, a body of saints, who were upholding in this present day apostolic truth and apostolic doctrine. I know there are some here who have come into a historic conservative faith, their fathers and mothers.

And so, if I may draw from your experience and illustration this afternoon, it would be like this. With Weaver or Stalsthus or Martin or some names such as that or Lacks, it could be that you could say, well, you see, I've had this in my blood for years.

And there's a tendency then to suppose that I have some kind of connection with historic Christianity because of this line through which I've come. But until our lives are matching the truth of the saints of God and our lives are exemplary of what God has done to us, then we have no Anabaptists, we have no scriptural, we have no New Testament foundations.

Matthew 16 and the Anabaptist Alternative

And so, it must be the light lining up with the truth that's in here. And we take that for granted today, but that was a revolutionary thought in that time. Tell my viewers if you know, the Anabaptists hardly ever referred to a passage of scripture that you hear almost every time you hear a message in the church.

I think I'll take a chance and ask you the question orally. You find out that the message is going to be in the church. What is the first passage is referred to? I might be taking a chance in doing this.

If it's not the first, it's going to be referred to very near the beginning of a message. Where is it? Maybe you're afraid to take a chance. Church begun with Matthew chapter 16. Mark, Peter, verse 18.

And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The Anabaptists? Well, I would urge you to try it. Now, I question whether you can find those verses quoted one time in Anabaptist literature.

You might wonder why. It was this passage right here. The Catholicism and Luther and Zwingli based their life to continue on as a church. Now, you and I both know that if we understand this correctly, it would be a very valid passage to use to show how Christ built his church, that the church belongs to him, that the apostolic confession here of Christ being the only begotten Son of God is a valid position upon which a church is then brought forward.

Gathered Believers and the Presence of Christ

Well, I should turn to chapter 18 of Matthew and show you what became the loci of Anabaptist positions. Verse 19. And I say unto you that if any of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

And that passage you find referred to time and time again. May I show you another? John chapter 20. Look here at verse 22. And when he hath said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. It's early in this discussion I want to call attention to the fact that for them the truth of whether or not we are a church is dependent upon whether or not we have within our hearts, within our bodies, within our congregation, among us as brethren, whether we have the Holy Spirit of God upon us or not.

If that Spirit is here, we are a part of that body of Christ. And if it's not here, to have any kind of lineage or heritage or ecclesiasticism or hierarchy or anything else, position or doctrine or organization, it's to be a pseudo-church.

It's to be a false church. It's to be no church at all. And Acts 180 tells them that ye shall receive power if not the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And so the essence of baptism, the zenith, if you will please, became not Matthew 16, but Matthew 28, when it was empowered, empowered with that Spirit.

They went out into all nations and taught them and baptized them and brought into this body those whom God had called. I'm quoting from a passage in this book edited by Guy Herzberger, The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision.

For those of you who are taking notes and want to document what is said in these meetings, it is found on page 124. As far as Anabaptists are concerned, biblically speaking, the act of holy government is reported this way.

It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us. May I quote this rather difficult sentence? It may be difficult for some of you, and I'm reading now. Anabaptism rests ultimately on perpetual spiritual recreation which derives its authority from the work of the Spirit among men, thereby united and not from ecclesiastical structure.

Are you able to understand that? If I put it in simple terms, it's this. We are a church as long as we derive our unity and our oneness of heart and our oneness of purpose from the fact that the same Spirit has baptized us all into one body.

And for that reason, we are one of heart, and not because some structure has brought us into its control or into its conformity. As right as what? Some external direction is possibly in order. Yet this must be an implicit, a from within to without position that we as the saints of God have.

Implicit Spiritual Life Versus External Conformity

I wonder if I can just teach you a little English here and talk to you about those few words I've already referred to. Explicit and implicit. The meaning is this. When you say the Sermon on the Mount, and you decide, for instance, that you're going to starting this afternoon walk out on these streets of New Holland and live the Sermon on the Mount, you will discover yourself absolutely powerless to do it.

You can't do it. So when it comes, you smite one cheek and you try to turn the other. It won't work. Explicit. Ex is out. Exhale. We're breathing out. External, outside the building. Exterior, outside the house.

It's an attempt to control a life by some conformity that we attach to the outside of it and bring it into some kind of order, into some kind of regulation. But implicit is the opposite. It works within the person.

It establishes in life a germ of truth within the heart. And this then works out. It cannot be hidden. It's that light that sits on a hill, that city sitting on a hill that cannot be hidden. And so we give rise here to this thought of a church of the Spirit.

The Gathered Congregation and Mutual Aid

Oh, I'm concerned about the possibility of having a lantern but having no light in the lantern. Having a lantern but no oil in the lantern. Some of you are acquainted with the classics of radical reformation, which is an attempt to reproduce for laymen like myself and like yourselves, possibly.

I don't know if there are any classic scholars here or not, but I certainly am not one. The writings of Anabaptists, of Anabaptist persons who wrote in Dutch or wrote in German or some other dialect, and they're taking some of their important writings and making them available in a language that you and I can understand.

And so numbers of texts were selected for these translations into our language. And I have one such book here titled Anabaptism and Outlines. It's this book. It takes about 17 subjects that you can peruse through, and then they've taken collections from the writings starting with the earliest known writing on that particular subject up until about the year 1560, possibly, including the Swiss brothers in the south, including the Ottarian brethren from the east, and including the Mennonites from the north compiling their writings in this text under the various subjects.

And so I want to refer, if I may, to that somewhat this afternoon. I'm quoting, first of all, from page 101 in its outline of Anabaptism. The Church was not identified as the gathered congregation of believers who have voluntarily entered it by baptism upon confession of faith.

Excuse me. The Church was now identified, excuse me, as the gathered congregation of believers who have voluntarily entered it by baptism upon confession of faith. Only those can be members who are obedient to Christ.

Love is the chief mark of the Church. It is a community of mutual aid in which nothing is held back from those who are in need. Anabaptism transferred what in Catholicism was sacerdotal powers to the whole Christian congregation.

We'll be talking more about that later. The Anabaptist emphasis was on the visibility of the Church. It is seen to cause its members to live public lives of obedience unto Christ. This is the Church of the Spirit, the lantern of righteousness of which we speak.

The Great Commission and Christian Discipleship

I want to quote further from page 106. Starting this great commission that I said was the zenith of Anabaptism, the Father and Son and Holy Ghost had teached them to observe all things as I have commanded you.

And for those of you who were not here last week, this will be a good way to tie the thoughts of last week's lesson together with this one. Listen closely. The first teaching is that they present to them the basics of God's will in Christ.

Do you therefore teach all nations? The word teach appears twice in the great commission. Do you therefore teach? That first teach was the first impressions, the first truths, the basic call and claim of salvation upon the life of a person, the basic issues of God.

That was the first teach. If then they accept the teaching and wish to become disciples of Christ, they shall baptize them so that they may put on Christ and be incorporated in this Holy Church. Finally, in order that they may remain friends of Christ, the ones baptized should be taught everything that Christ commanded.

All this can be clearly seen in the Apostolic writings. Behold, this is the true Church of Christ from the beginning, and still is so. Did you get that? Teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and then, that having been done, to maintain the true doctrine, to maintain the walk of life in accordance with the words of Christ, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And there is an Apostolic pattern, brethren, that comes straight from the great commission, the very central thought of anti-baptism. And so we have here the Church of the Spirit. Possibly, no, I will not take time to equate for some other sources that we have here.

We were planning to have for you a sheet today, and it's not available at the present time, and hopefully by next week I'll be able to put it into your hands. We stopped to get this thing reproduced today, and the place was closed where we had stopped.

And so I appreciate the sister who took some time to prepare this for us, and I will just put on the board, if I may, some thoughts here from this page. It's possibly a bit better understood if you see it graphically portrayed to you like this.

If I had more chalk, I'd write three more words on the board in here. Right here would be Catholicism, here would be Protestantism, and here would be anti-baptism. And it represents three different views of the Church.

Here is the believer, able to come to God, or has access to God. Has to go through the church priest. This can be an idea, but it always stands in the way. Always stands to mediate the believer's way to God.

Through the church he must come. Through the priest he must come. Through the sacramental system he must come. And now through the sacrament, he comes to God. Through the church, there. The Protestants, however, saw something different.

They were able to remove this pretty well. They were concerned about the individual's personal salvation. Faith in the individual heart. And so each one of them came to God individually. I'm right with God.

You're right with God. I'm right with God myself. I have my faith in the Lord. I have my own little faith. My need is met. I'm taken care of. I'm right with God. He comes to God apart from his brother.

One together. Strength and power with God. We've tried to call this pure tension. One with each other. And living for each other. And united together. If anyone has any questions about that, they certainly may challenge it.

Church Authority Under the Word of God

I want to move on, if I may, to the second aspect of this talk this afternoon. And that's dealing with church authority. Where does the church get its authority to function? And if I were to draw another chart on that board, and not having the chalk, we won't do it this afternoon.

I would draw right God at the top of the page. Try to follow this thought. You can easily understand it. Right God at the top of the page. And then I would put an arrow down from God to two things. I would put a Bible here and put the church here.

And then I would bring two more arrows down from God and the church down to the congregation. And then below the congregation, I would put believers down here. And as you can just visualize that concept in your mind, I want to show you what that says to me.

It says to me that in this hour of day, we have a good bit of thinking that indicates that there are two authorities, there are two powers that give direction to the congregation. The one power and the one authority is the church.

The other one is the Bible. The Word of God. And so from God, He has invested authority in two places here. And this authority then comes down through to the congregation and down through to the believer.

And I want to share with you this afternoon that I do not believe that that is a valid position. I believe that the church has authority. It has power to function this earth only to the extent that it ever draws its rules, its regulations, its teachings from the Word of God.

And so we hold God's Word as supreme and all other things are subordinate to that Word of God. The Word which has gone forth from God, the Word which brought forth the heavens and earth and created all things, and now upholds all things by that same Word, and will one day shake and destroy by the same Word, and will judge all mankind someday by the same Word, is the source of our power and authority.

And any church that deviates from that book, from that authority, from that control, from that foundation, does not have authority in that area where they have done that. We want to show you that a little later on this afternoon, if time permits us this way.

And so it's based upon the Word of God. And I can give you a series of references here. If I may save time, I will give those to you when we have our lesson, the fifth lesson here, on the sola scriptura position.

I'll try to save those references for that occasion. You might have a further question about it until that time. But I want you to know that the Lord gave the Word. And great was the company of those who published it, who published the Word of God.

Christ as the Head and Shepherds as Servants

How is the church organized? Colossians chapter 1. Let's use our Bible. Verse 18. He is referring here to Jesus Christ, the firstborn of every creature. The image of the invisible God, verse 15. All things created by him, verse 16.

He is before all things, 17, and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church. He was the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. That in all things he might have the preeminence.

In him does all the fullness of the Godhead dwell. And so Christ is head. And he remains head. There never is any other head for the church. Now, there are shepherds on earth. There are shepherds here, caring for individual congregations, individual flocks of souls gathered in geographic areas here and there.

And these shepherds come and go as they are mortared, or as they die, or as they are spent in service. But Christ remains as head all the time. Now, I want to just share with you a concern that I have.

I do that this afternoon. For I am convinced that if our people are suffering from anything in this afternoon's hours we are gathered here, we are suffering from a lack of shepherds, dear brothers and sisters.

Shepherds' hearts. Shepherds that care. Shepherds that have a one-to-one contact with the sheep. That know each sheep by name. That know when one is missing. That know what the need is. That know what the problem is in the life of that one special one.

Where each individual sheep feels a calling, feels a oneness, feels that someone is interested in them as a person. We're too large. We're too busy. Somebody has summed it up like this. To be shepherds.

Somebody has summed it up like this. That whereas we ought to be shepherds out there walking with our flocks and tending the sheep, leading them into green pastures instead of that, too many who are called to be shepherds are inside in the office managing the farm.

They're doing the business, doing the paperwork, and they're traveling to and fro and running hither and yon, but are not taking care of the sheep. And so since they're not out there to take care of the sheep, we must do something different.

Instead of having a shepherd to guide the sheep, show them the right way, walk the way before them, lead them into the living fountains of waters, the green pastures, the still waters, instead of that.

We build great big fences until the sheep may stay in there. In who you are, take care of yourself. Be in that fence. That fence will take care of you. No one should get outside of that fence. But you know what happens inside that fence?

The grass gets dry. Oh, the grass is dry. Oh, I could be outside this fence. Out there there's green grass. And so the sheep push around at the fence, and lo and behold, they find a weak place. And they get to nudging on that thing and working on it, and sure enough, they find a leak.

They find a way through, and some get out. Shepherd comes out and says to the farmer, what's going on here? So he gets out with his pile of drivers, gets some more fence posts in there, and he lays some cement blocks to make the fence stronger, and that should take care of it.

Now get back inside there and stay in. Dear shepherds, get out of your office, get off the telephone, and get out there with those sheep, and walk them, and lead them, and direct them into living fountains of waters.

And if you have more sheep to care for than you can take care of yourself, there ought to be a way to solve that problem. Prepare under shepherds and others to guide and direct. This is one of the greatest needs that is in the church in our time.

To understand the need of an Indian brother and sister to work with this one person, and how much work that takes. How can you take care of the hundreds, and so on, in some cases the thousands. Now, God has provided a way for under shepherds here at this time to provide for his sheep, his loved ones.

Spiritual Gifts and the Priesthood of All Believers

Just how is this to be done? May I show you such a very beautiful and simple way that this could be accomplished. And there's nothing at all complicated about it. A Christian community must be pure and holy.

Then she has the authority to send them to preach the gospel. Now, can you think about that for a while? In the congregation, there are those that we see have gifts and calling. That God's blessing is upon the life.

And one kind of gift or other, as is already read to us from chapter 12. And it could have been read to us from Romans 12. Or it could have been read to us from Ephesians 4. Or it could have been read to us from 1 Corinthians 14.

And other places in the scripture. And so we see those gifts there. And so, if the church is pure and holy, they have the apostolic right to come to that brother and say, We would like to reveal God as prepared to the teaching of Christ.

In the present life, call me to do so. And so here's a holy church. Here's an apostolic spirit among them. And they see such a brother or sister with some gift in their fellowship. And they go to that one.

They call them. And commission them to the work whereto Christ has called them. And with this, we must give you this impression. We must set this record straight. Again, Baptists believe in a holy doctrine that is seriously threatened today.

And that is in the priesthood of all believers. In the year 1532. In a convenient manner. When the congregation assembles. Which congregation is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Where the gifts of the inner operation of the Spirit in each one serve the common good.

Note, for the common good. This they feel is the essence of New Testament apostolic spirit given to the church. Is their use. Listen to this observation from the same tract. It would sound like one of us sitting here wrote it.

But we did not. This was written in 1532. When someone comes to church. And constantly hears only one person speaking. And all the listeners are silent. Neither speaking nor prophesying. Who can or will regard or confess the same to be a spiritual congregation.

Or confess according to 1 Corinthians 14. That God is dwelling and operating in them through his Holy Spirit with his gifts. Impaling them one after the other. In the above mentioned order of speaking and prophesying.

I say what an outstanding observation for this brother way back in that time. For here we sit. Sit there with our heads looking up at this person who is speaking and speaking. But never respond. And never forthcoming.

Is the Spirit of God only working in one person? Or are the gifts in the rest? What has the Spirit said to most of you this week? Why isn't that coming forth? And so when the stranger. The unbeliever as 1 Corinthians 14 verse 26 speaks of him.

Comes into your midst. And there God has given them. The unification of the total body. Then he knows that here is truly a brotherhood. Among whom the Spirit of God is dwelling. I want to hold. When they come together.

And they have no appointed leader. They should monish one among them. Whom they regard as capable in a friendly and pleasant manner. To read or speak to them according to his God given gifts. One after another should be allowed to speak.

Depending upon whether something has been given to him. As Paul teaches. But before they begin to speak. They should fall on their knees. And faithfully call on the Lord. They will grant them to speak fruitfully.

To thank God for all his gifts and goodness. And according to the opportunity. Before they leave to. Before they leave. To break bread with one another. In memory of the death of our Lord. What beautiful and simple thoughts.

I hold these before you. Because I believe. That it's a. A concept that we need to regain. According to the word of God. According to the printed letter especially. Now. You might be interested in knowing.

A Simple Anabaptist Service in the Forest

Just what a Nanabaptist service sounded like. And there's only one record of it that I know of. I've tried to search for a long time. To find an index into what. One of the worship services would have been like.

It's difficult to document this. But a lady under torture. And I'm quoting from Manifest in Europe page 128. A lady under torture gave this simple description. Of what one service was like. This evidently was in a forest.

She raised about 36 persons. Assembled at night in a forest. One brother named George Bastian. And I'm probably not pronouncing that correctly. Was reading the scriptures. And speaking for three hours.