After the Board of Publication of the Northern Indiana Eldership had
passed the resolution in November, 1880, that they were willing to
consolidate the Herald of Gospel Freedom with any other paper that
advocated the same gospel principles, a consolidation was effected
with a small paper called The Pilgrim, published in Indianapolis,
by G. Haines. The Pilgrim was a monthly and had been issued but
about eight times. The Herald equipment, it should be remarked,
had been donated to Brothers Warner and Haines by the Churches of
God in Indiana for the new paper.[9] The decision to effect this
consolidation was made in a joint meeting of the Board of Publication
and the Standing Committee held in Yellow Lake Bethel, Kosciusko
County, Ind., Dec. 23, 1880. In an old memorandum tablet of Brother
Warner's is recorded what is apparently a report of this meeting, in
his own handwriting. One paragraph, which reads as follows, is of
special interest:
"On motion it was agreed to consolidate the Herald of Gospel Freedom
with the Pilgrim, at Indianapolis, Ind., and call the new the Gospel
Trumpet."
Though he modestly does not say so, it was Brother Warner himself
who suggested the name Gospel Trumpet. He felt impressed that the new
paper should be called by that name, the idea being associated with
such scriptures as the following:
"The great _trumpet_ shall be blown, and they shall come ... and
shall worship the Lord in the holy mount" (from Isa. 27:13). "The
Lord God shall blow the _trumpet_, and shall go with whirlwinds"
(from Zech. 9:14).
A scripture containing the word "trumpet" always appeared in the
heading of the paper. After a few years the heading contained the
design of a flying angel blowing a trumpet from which was suspended a
scroll containing this inscription, taken from Zech. 5:2-4: "He said
unto me. What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll....
Then said he unto me.... Every one that stealeth shall be cut off as
on this side according to it; and everyone that sweareth shall be cut
off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the
Lord of hosts."
At a later date the design was changed, the angel was reversed, and
the following was substituted as an inscription on the scroll: "All
ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye,
when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth
a trumpet, hear ye" (Isa. 18:3). For many years the heading design
contained one or more angels blowing the trumpet.
Brother Warner was a man wonderfully anointed of God for a special
work. Since he had received the experience of sanctification, in
1877, the Lord had been gradually revealing to him that the true
and divinely intended state of the people of God was not that of
being scattered in a multiplicity of sectarian divisions but of
being perfectly one in Christ, not only in spirit, but in name and
in visible aspect. He felt that the teaching of genuine holiness
would, in connection with the light of the prophecies bearing on the
subject, bring the church out into her pure, undivided state. For
such a reformation he was indeed a chosen instrument of the Lord.
It was God's truth he was preaching. It led, of course, to a crisis
in which he received much persecution and was deserted by many. The
Trumpet, he realized, was a very effectual instrument God had placed
in his hands for accomplishing the great reformation-work in this
evening time of the Christian era. The time was ripe. True saints
of God in various places, in whom was the Spirit of the Lord, were
desiring and anticipating a oneness for God's people, and when the
Trumpet appeared it was just what they were wanting. The fact that it
was considered insignificant and ignored in popular religious circles
proved its mission none the less divine. God's work is frequently
accomplished by insignificant instruments. The Trumpet shared Brother
Warner's difficulties and deprivations. The description of these in
the spiritual phase will be reserved for the next chapter. What we
shall note here are some of the mere facts of its history.
[Illustration: Fascimile of a copy of the Gospel Trumpet dated Mar.
1, 1881, the oldest in the Company's files. A paragraph from Brother
Warner's notes.]
The oldest copy of the Gospel Trumpet now in the files of the
Publishing Office is of the issue of March 1, 1881. The paper began
with January 1 of that year, at Rome City, Ind. Two issues were
printed there, then the equipment was moved to Indianapolis. The
removal occasioned some delay, so that there was no paper printed
during the month of February. The new location was over N. 70 North
Illinois St. The paper started as a semimonthly, at a subscription
price of seventy-five cents a year. Agents were allowed a commission
of fifteen cents on each subscription in clubs of five or upwards.
Its object was stated as being, "The glory of God in the salvation
of men from all sin, and the union of all saints upon the Bible." It
was a four-page, five-column paper of about 13 by 19 inches in size.
It at first contained considerable matter on prohibition; but the
thing that brought it persecution and isolated it from the fellowship
and sympathy of nominal professors was its teaching against sectarian
divisions.
Financial privation was one of the handicaps that had to be contended
with from the start. On the moving of the equipment to Indianapolis,
new type to the amount of $147 had to be purchased. At this time also
a new Prouty power-press costing $590 was contemplated, the old press
being a Washington hand-press. It was some years, however, until a
power-press was installed. In the issue of May 15, 1881, appears the
following editorial:
We are experiencing that it takes a man wonderfully burned out
for God to publish a paper that is simply true to Jesus and up to
the Bible standard of salvation from all sin. A thousand points
of expediency and policy must be disregarded, and the eye fixed
on God alone. O reader, you that love God and the truth, do not
forget to pray for us. We are here in the city with a family to
support, and publishing expenses to meet, and many are withdrawing
from us because we will not sanction their idols; but God is always
present, and we fear no evil. Thus far, since the paper is all on
God's altar, he has supplied our needs. Glory to his name!
Another difficulty that had to be contended with almost from the
start was the unfaithfulness of some of those associated with him. He
was scarcely settled in Indianapolis when the partnership with Haines
had to be dissolved, and the latter then started an opposition paper.
The following editorial from the June 1 number will explain: