compiled by Gerold N. Davis,
Emeritus Professor of German,
Brigham Young University
In the Spring of 1840 near the little
farm community of Eldersfield, which lies on the border between Gloucestershire
and Hertfordshire in South-Central England, Thomas Oakey, a preacher for a
religious group that calls itself the United Brethren stands in one of their
meetings to deliver a sermon, a thing which he had done many times, but instead
of preaching he startles the congregation by announcing: "No, I haven't the
authority. I will never preach again until I have the proper authority given to
me." Thomas Oakey is married to Ann Collett and they have three small children.
He is twenty seven years old.
At this same time some eighty miles to the
north, another preacher stands in a religious meeting and startles his
congregation with the announcement: "This is the last meeting I will hold with
you for some time. The Spirit of the Lord has said to me, 'Go south'." His name
is Wilford Woodruff. It is his birthday. He is 33 years old.
Wilford
Woodruff records in his Journal:
I
traveled eighty miles; went into the
south of England. As soon as I arrived, I met John Benbow. It was clearly made
manifest to me why I had been called thither. I had left a good field, where I
was baptizing every night in the week. When I got to this place, I found a
people - some 600 of them - who had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodists and
formed themselves into a sect called the United Brethren... I saw that the Lord
had sent me to them. They were searching for light and truth, but had gone as
far as they could, and were calling upon the Lord continually to open the way
before them and send them light and knowledge, that they might know the true way
to be saved. I went to work amongst them and ultimately baptized their
superintendent, forty preachers and some 600 members. (JD 21:315)
Among
those baptized by Wilford Woodruff were the preacher Thomas Oakey and his wife
Ann Collett. These baptisms were, for me* at least, among the most fortuitous
baptisms in the early history of the Church, as I will explain shortly.
*Garold Davis & Clay Gorton are cousins. The Thomas Oakey descendants herein
applies to Clay Gorton.
Before I explain the importance of these baptisms
to me personally, however, I would like to give a partial answer to the
questions: What made these people so immediately receptive to the message of
Wilford Woodruff? What theology was there in the religion of the United Brethren
that allowed the Spirit to testify to them so strongly of the truths Wilford
Woodruff brought? I belief an answer, at least a partial answer, is to be found
in the statement that these people had broken from the "Wesleyan Methodists."
And to understand the theology of the Wesleyan Methodists we need to look at the
conversion of the founding father of Methodism, John Wesley.
On
Sunday, January 25, 1736, John Wesley
and his brother Charles were on board the sailing vessel Simmons bound for the
English colony of Georgia to take up their first major employment as recent
graduates of Oxford University and as newly-ordained ministers of the Church of
England. Charles had been appointed Secretary to the governor of the colony, Mr.
Oglethorpe, and John was to be a missionary to the Georgian Indians. The events
of this day at sea changed the direction of their lives forever. I quote from
John Wesley's Journal:
At noon our third storm began. At four it was more
violent than before. The ship not only rocked to and fro with the utmost
violence, but shook and jarred with so unequal, grating a motion, that one could
not but with great difficulty keep one's hold of anything, nor stand a moment
without it...
At seven I went to the Germans. I had long before observed
the great seriousness of their behaviour. Of their humility they had given a
continual proof, by performing those servile offices for the other passengers,
which none of the English would undertake; for which they desired, and would
receive no pay, saying, "It was good for their proud hearts," and "their loving
Saviour had done more for them." And every day had given them occasion of
showing a meekness, which no injury could move. If they were pushed, struck, or
thrown down, they rose again and went away; but no complaint was found in their
mouth. There was now an opportunity of trying whether they were delivered from
the spirit of fear, as well as from that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the
midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the
mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the
great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the
English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterward, "Was you not
afraid?" He answered, "I thank God, no." I asked, "But were not your women and
children afraid?" He replied mildly, "No, our women and children are not afraid
to die."
From them I went to their crying, trembling neighbours, and
pointed out to them the difference in the hour of trial, between him that
feareth God, and him that feareth him not. At twelve the wind fell. This was the
most glorious day which I have hitherto seen.
"The
Germans" to whom Wesley refers were
a small band of Protestant pietists who had a few years earlier migrated into
Germany (under religious persecution) from Bohemia and Moravia. They traced
their origins to the martyr John Hus and originally called themselves the
Bohemian and Moravi. They had settled in Herrnhut, a small village just over the
Czech border, at the invitation of a rich count who owned extensive land in the
area. This was the Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Zinzendorf held religious orders
from the great school of theology at Halle University, and since they had
settled on his land, Count Zinzendorf added to his many titles that of Bishop.
They became known as the Moravian Brethren or the Unitas Fratrum, and Count
Ludwig von Zinzendorf became their Bishop and their spiritual and ecclesiastical
leader.
John Wesley's attraction to this group of pious Germans continued
during the voyage. He tells us "I began to learn German, in order to converse
with the Germans." He was a good scholar. Not having the books he needed he
wrote his own. He compiled a German-English dictionary and wrote his own German
Grammar. While in Georgia he translated and published several German hymns, and
by the time he returned to London two years later he could understand and preach
sermons in German. His education at the hands of the Germans was not only
linguistic, however. It soon took a more religious turn.
Shortly after
arriving in Georgia Wesley had an interesting conversation with Mr. Spangenberg,
one of the pastors of the Germans. It became a sort of catechism. Wesley records
in his Journal (Feb 7, 1736):
I asked [Mr. Spangenberg's] advice with
regard to my own conduct. He said, "My brother, I must first ask you one or two
questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear
witness with your spirit, that you are a child of God?" I was surprised, and
knew not what to answer. He observed it, and asked, "Do you know Jesus Christ?"
I paused, and said, "I know he is the Saviour of the world." "True," replied he;
"but do you know he has saved you" I answered, "I hope he has died to save me."
He only added, "Do you know yourself?" I said, "I do." But I fear they were vain
words.
With
this conversation begins the
interesting conversion of Wesley, a minister of the Church of England, to a body
of new doctrines which were, if not hostile, then seriously at odds with his own
ecclesiastical training. It is not a matter of knowing Jesus to be the Savior of
the world. You must have the "Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit." You
must have a personal revelation. The pastor Mr. Spangenberg went on to tell
Wesley of his own spiritual journey which had taken him from dryness of the
official Christian teachings at Jena University to Herrnhut and to Count
Zinzendorf. The reformation in Germany and elsewhere had become moribund in
ecclesiastical rules and authoritative administration, but Zinzendorf,
Spangenberg, and other leaders of these Moravian Brethren were attempting to
reintroduce a biblical Christianity which included personal salvation through
personal revelation of the Holy Ghost.
Wesley stayed just over two years
in the New World and then returned to his native England. On his arrival in
England he records this interesting comment in his Journal:
It is now two
years and almost four months since I left my native country, in order to teach
the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity: but what have I learned myself
in the mean time? Why, (what I the least of all suspected) that I who went to
America to convert others, was never myself converted to God. (29 February,
1738)
His religious education from these German pietists was far from
complete, however. Shortly after his return he resumed this association in
particular under the tutelage of one of their ministers, Peter Bohler.
I
found my brother [Charles] at oxford...and with him Peter Bohler; by whom (in
the hand of the great God) I was, on Sunday, the 5th, clearly convinced of
unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved. (With the full
Christian salvation.)
Immediately it struck into my mind, "Leave off
preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?" I asked
Bohler whether he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered, "By no
means." I asked, "But what can I preach?" He said, "Preach faith till you have
it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." Accordingly, Monday,
6, I began preaching this new doctrine, though my soul started back from the
work.
Charles Wesley was not so thoroughly convinced at what he called
"the new faith" but with continued instruction from Peter Bohler he, too, soon
followed his brother John. John Writes:
My brother [Charles] had a long
and particular conversation with Peter Bohler. And it now pleased God to open
his eyes; so that he also saw clearly what was the nature of that one true
living faith, whereby alone, "through grace, we are saved."
Looking back
it is easy to see the spiritual father of these doctrines as none other than
Martin Luther himself. It was an ongoing German reformation. Or, more correctly,
a return to the major principles of the original German reformation.
John
Wesley concludes this comment about his brother Charles with an enthusiastic
tribute to their German friend: "Peter Bohler left London, in order to embark
for Carolina. O what a work hath God begun, since his coming into England! Such
a one as shall never come to an end, till heaven and earth pass away."
Following the suggestion of Peter Bohler, John Wesley now began preaching the
necessity of personal revelation, that testimony comes only from the Holy Ghost,
and that salvation comes by faith. The reception of his preaching, by the
officials of the church in any case, was less than enthusiastic. Again, from
John Wesley's Journal:
Sunday 7 May, 1738. I preached at St. Lawrence's
in the morning; and afterward at St. Katherine Cree's church. I was enabled to
speak strong words at both; and was, therefore, the less surprised at being
informed, I was not to preach any more in either of these churches.
Tuesday, 9 May, 1738. I preached at Great St. Helen's to a very numerous
congregation... My heart was now so enlarged, to declare the love of God, to all
that were oppressed by the devil, that I did not wonder in the least, when I was
afterward told, "Sir, you must preach here no more."
Sunday, 14 May,
1738. I preached in the morning at St. Ann's, Aldersgate; and in the afternoon
at the Savoy chapel, free salvation by faith in the blood of Christ. I was
quickly apprized, that at St. Ann's, likewise, I am to preach no more.
Friday, 19 May, 1738. I preached at St. John's Wapping, at three, and at St.
Bennett's, Paul's Wharf, in the evening. At these churches, likewise, I am to
preach no more.
John Wesley's rebuffs at the hands of the established
clergy for preaching his new doctrine of salvation by faith and the testimony of
the Holy Ghost did not go unrewarded, however. Peter Bohler had advised him to
preach faith until he had it. On the 24th of May John Wesley had an experience
that has been often recorded as the foundation experience of Methodism. The
following entry from Wesley's Journal has even been recorded in bronze and the
monument can be seen at the end of Aldersgate Street in London, very near the
Barbizon theater:
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in
Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the
Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which
God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely
warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: and an
assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me
from the law of sin and death.
And so John Wesley is now launched on a
preaching career that will eventually separate him from the main stream
doctrines of the Church of England which he officially represents. His
preaching, and the expected results, continues.
Sunday, 28 May. I was
roughly attacked in a large company as an enthusiast, a seducer, and a
setter-forth of new doctrines.
This day I preached in the morning at St.
George's, Bloomsbury, on "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith;" and in the afternoon at the chapel in Long Acre, on God's justifying
the ungodly;-the last time (I understand) I am to preach at either.
John
Wesley does not appear to be overly discouraged by his rejection from the church
he officially represented. It is reported that his brother Charles was asked:
"Are you not afraid that the church might excommunicate your Brother John?" To
which Charles is reported to have replied: "No, but I am much afraid that my
Brother John might excommunicate the church."
Neither happened. Instead,
John spent that summer of 1738 on a long tour of Germany and made the pilgrimage
to Herrnhut to see, as he says, "the place where the Christians live." In
Herrnhut John was received and hosted by a Mr. Hermsdorf whom he had met in
Georgia. From the entries in his Journal he seems to have been highly gratified
with his trip and thoroughly converted to the living habits as well as to the
doctrines and theology of the Church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren. On
his return to England he again associated himself with the Germans and for two
years they met and worshiped together in a small group they had formed which
they called the Fetter Lane Society. It seems from subsequent references to this
group that they had also taken on, at least in the public mind and in the press,
the name of Methodists, a title that had been attached to John and Charles
Wesley while they were students at Oxford. But then a rupture took place between
these Wesleyan Methodists and the United or Moravian Brethren that was neither
theological nor cultural, it was personal. The seeds of this rupture were
planted, I believe, during Wesley's travels through Germany.
John Wesley
was a cultured and educated English gentleman, but he was also a down-to-earth
plain-spoken practical man who seems to have been humble enough to enjoy
Christian hospitality with all classes of people. He was a man of much common
sense. He was somewhat put off, therefore, by two things he encountered among
the Germans: their love of pomp and their officious bureaucratic formality. I
have time for only two examples. The first is from his visit to Meissen. The
Journal entry is dated Friday, 28 July, 1738:
I was greatly surprised at
all I saw there: at the costliness of apparel in many, and the gaudiness of it,
in more; at the huge fur caps worn by the women, of the same shape with a
Turkish turban; which generally had one or more ribbon's hanging down a great
length behind. The minister's habit was adorned with gold and scarlet, and a
vast cross both behind and before. Most of the congregation sat, (the men
generally with their hats, at the prayers as well as sermon,) and all of them
stayed during the Holy Communion, though but very few received. Alas, alas! What
a Reformed country is this!
The second complaint Wesley makes concerns
his treatment at the hands of the bureaucrats. There is some irony in this
because Wesley suffered the same treatment in Dresden my wife and I suffered in
Dresden when we were serving as missionaries in the German Democratic Republic
in 1989, two hundred and fifty years later.
At two in the afternoon we
came to Dresden, the chief city of Saxony. Here also we were carried for above
two hours from one magistrate or office to another, with the usual impertinent
solemnity, before we were suffered to go to our inn. I greatly wonder that
common sense and common humanity (for these, doubtless, subsist in Germany as
well as England) do not put an end to this senseless, inhuman usage of
strangers, which we met with at almost every German city, though more
particularly at Frankfort, Weimar, Halle, Leipsig and Dresden. I know nothing
that can reasonably be said in its defense, in a time of full peace, being a
breach of all the common, even Heathen laws of hospitality. If it be a custom,
so much the worse; the more is the pity and the shame.
The reason I find
these entries in Wesley's journal significant (in addition to being quite
humorous) is that they seem to have formed the background for a formal break
that took place between John Wesley and Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Wesley, as
I mentioned, was a common, plain-speaking Englishman. Zinzendorf was a German
count, and apparently represented in his personal bearing and behavior the
German traits that Wesley most disliked. After about two years of meeting with
the German Moravians in London at their Fetter Lane Society, there appeared in
the London Daily Post these entries. The first is by Count Zinzendorf and seems
to be nothing more than a clarification:
Whosoever reckons that those
persons in England who are usually called Moravians and those who are called
Methodists are the same, he is mistaken. That they are not the same is manifest
enough out of the declaration of Louis, late Bishop and Trustee of the
Brethren's Church.
This advertisement was soon answered by John Wesley
who was not as concerned with the declaration as with the author of the
declaration:
The Methodists, so-called, heartily thank Brother Louis for
his Declaration; as they count it no honour to be in any connexion either with
him or his Brethren. But why is he ashamed of his name? The Count's name is
Ludwig, not Louis; nor more than mine is Jean or Giovanni... Was there ever such
a Proteus under the sun as the lord Freydeck, Domine de Thurstain, etc, etc.?
For he has almost as many names as he has faces or shapes. Oh when will he learn
(with all his learning) "simplicity and Godly sincerity"?
And so, it
seems, the Moravian Brethren went their way, spreading the gospel of salvation
by faith throughout England and the English colonies in the New World, and John
Wesley went his way, spreading the gospel of salvation by faith throughout
England and the English colonies in the New World. And with this background I
will now return to what I have called a fortuitous meeting between Wilford
Woodruff and Thomas Oakey.
The success of Wilford Woodruff's missionary
work among these people has become legendary in the Church. Of importance here
is that Thomas Oakey and the other United Brethren were a breakaway group from
what Wilford Woodruff calls "Wesleyan Methodism." Knowing what we do now from
this short outline of John Wesley's own conversion from the doctrines of the
Church of England to that of these German protestant pietist who called
themselves the Moravian Brethren, we can understand much about the theology of
Thomas Oakey and the United Brethren, a theology that made them immediately
receptive to the message of Wilford Woodruff.
They relied very heavily on
the Bible. They believed in direct communion with God through the Holy Ghost,
and that they could receive forgiveness of sins through this communion. They
believed that the Holy Ghost would communicate a feeling of peace and salvation
to their souls. They believed that Jesus Christ had died to save them,
personally, and that this salvation came by faith and by grace, with no
intermediaries. They believed in personal revelation. There was but one thing
they felt a lack of, at least Thomas Oakey felt a lack of, and that was the
authority to administer the ordinances and to preach.
This worry about
the absence of authority had been spreading through German protestant
theologians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was something that
was "in the air" so to speak. There was a strong sense that the true authority
of God was not on the earth and that man must wait for the restoration of this
authority. How broadly these doctrines and ideas might have spread into the
eighteenth century pool of common beliefs in England is a matter for better
historians. (but I have always wanted an opportunity to mention this idea and
this might be my very last chance.) I will give two examples of this belief
common among some of the German theologians.
One of the most influential
of these sixteenth century German theologians was Sebastian Franck. He writes:
I am fully convinced [by a study of the early Church Fathers] that, after
the death of the apostles, the external Church of Christ, with its gifts and
sacraments, vanished from the earth and withdrew into heaven, and is now hidden
in spirit and in truth, and for these past fourteen hundred years there has
existed no true external Church and no efficacious sacraments. (This quotation
is from the book by the Quaker scholar, Rufus M. Jones, Spiritual Reformers in
the 16th and 17th Centuries, pp 59-60.)
Another was Caspar Schwenckfeld
who writes:
We ask where in the world to-day there is gathered together
an external Church of the apostolic form and type... But the time is coming when
once more there will be in the world an apostolic and completely reformed Church
of Christ, His living body and the organ of the Spirit, with divine gifts and
powers and commission. In the interim let the chosen children of God rejoice and
comfort themselves in this that their salvation rests neither in an external
Church, nor in the external use of sacraments, nor in any external thing, but
that it rests alone in Jesus Christ our Lord, and is received through true and
living faith. (Jones, 85)
When Wilford Woodruff arrived at the Benbow
farm and announced that the true apostolic authority had been restored to the
earth directly by heavenly messengers, the final obstacle to their faith was
removed. They could be baptized at the hands of a living apostle.
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Clay Gorton at the pond on John Benbow's
farm |
One of the first persons
baptized from this group was Elizabeth Bromage Collett,
mother-in-law to the preacher Thomas Oakey. This was on the ninth of
March, 1840. On the 5th of April Wilford Woodruff baptized the
preacher Thomas Oakey himself, along with his wife Ann Collett
Oakey. Four days later Ann's sister and brother, Elizabeth and
Daniel were baptized with their spouses. Now, armed with the
authority to preach he had been seeking, Thomas Oakey began
preaching again and baptizing others. He was shortly appointed
leader of the small branch of the Church at Frogsmarsh, a small
community near Eldersfield. On the 25th of November that same year
he baptized his father-in-law William Collett. And what became of
Thomas and Ann Oakey?
Ann's brother Daniel and his wife
Esther Jones left England very soon after their baptism and settled
in Nauvoo. They encouraged the rest of the family to join them.
Sadly, the Mother, Elizabeth Bromage Collett, the first of the
family to have been baptized by Wilford Woodruff, died in
Eldersfield one year later, 24 May 1841. Before the others in the family could
make the trip to America the Saints had fled Nauvoo and Daniel and Ester were
now writing from Salt Lake City encouraging the rest of the family to come
there. In the meantime, however, Thomas and Ann Oakey's family had grown to
eight living children: Ann Collett (22), Charles (19), Jane (16), Heber Thomas
(15), Joseph Lorenzo (12), Rhoda Rebecca (11), Ruben Hyrum (9), and Sarah Ann
(4). Two children had died young. Thomas was a hired farmer and had no means to
purchase passage for such a large family from England to Salt Lake, and remained
on the farm in Eldersfield.
Early
in the year 1856, however, the word was
sent to England that inexpensive travel to Salt Lake City was possible through
the Perpetual Emigration Fund if the emigrants would travel from Iowa City with
handcarts. Ann's father William Collett who was 76 years old felt himself too
old for the journey. He wanted to stay where his wife was buried. But with their
small savings and help from the PEF, the Thomas and Ann Oakey family in the
spring of 1856 left the green pastureland of Eldersfield, left Father Collett,
and began their momentous journey to Zion.
Their funds provided for train passage to
Liverpool, where they met up with many other Saints from all over England and
also a group of Saints from Denmark. Together they all boarded the ship Thornton
for New York City, then took train and steam-boat passage from New York to Iowa
City. In Iowa City they helped construct handcarts and sew tents for their
family. The leader of their company had been with them from Liverpool. He was
returning from a four-year mission in England. His name was Captain James
Willey.
The story of the Willey handcart company is well known. After
leaving the lush farmlands of Eldersfield in the spring, the Thomas and Ann
Oakey family found themselves in the high plains of Wyoming in October, buried
in snow and struggling for their lives. They survived, with one exception. On
the morning of the 9th of November, on Little Mountain, one day from the end of
their journey, their eleven-year-old Rhoda Rebecca died. They received
permission to carry her body into Salt Lake where they buried her in the Salt
Lake Cemetery the day of their arrival, 9 November 1856. Rhoda Rebecca Oakey was
the last death on the trail of the Willey Handcart Company.
The
family was reunited with Ann
Collett's brother Daniel. They settled for a few years in Lehi and were then
called to help settle the Bear Lake area. Thomas Oakey the preacher of the
United Brethren who had been baptized by Elder Wilford Woodruff was ordained a
patriarch by President Wilford Woodruff.
A gold seeker from Ohio named
William Wilson Sterrett came into Salt Lake City in 1849 and was converted to
the gospel. He did not go on to California. He later settled in the Bear Lake
area and married the youngest of the Oakey family, Sarah Ann. They had four
children. Their second son, Simeon Ralph Sterrett, married Emma Arminta Harris
and they had eight children and settled in Soda Springs, Idaho. Their fourth
child, Sarah Dorleska married a young man named Rees Dubois Gorton, who's
father, a faithful Presbyterian, had worked his way west on the intercontinental
railroad. Sarah Dorleska, known to everyone as Dot, was the mother of H. Clay
Gorton (b. 7 Mar. 1923) and his two sisters, Gayla (b. 23 Jan. 1925) and Leah
Patricia (b. 30 May 1928). Their great grandmother, Sarah Ann Oakey Sterrett,
lived up in Paris, Idaho, She died at age 96 on July 2, 1947, while Clay was on
a mission in Argentina.
Last year members of our family found the site of
the unmarked grave of Rhoda Rebecca and placed an appropriate marker on the
grave. On the 6th of June, during a family reunion in the Salt Lake Cemetery,
Clay had the honor of rededicating her grave.
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Salt Lake City Cemetery |