AS THE SUMMER of 1910 drew on, the Lord indicated that there should be tent meetings in Zion City, and on the first of July Mrs. Robinson arrived to minister in them. God’s purpose was to bring help to many needy souls in “poor, sidetracked Zion City.”
Previous to her coming, a tent had been erected on some vacant lots about a half a block from the home on Elisha Avenue. Miss Eva MacPhail had already arrived about three weeks earlier, and later the Lord led Mr. Campbell to join in this ministerial effort. Then, shortly after Mrs. Robinson’s arrival, the Lord directed that Elder and Mrs. Brooks, together with Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Leggett, were to go to Toronto for about a month. This left the leadership of the campaign with Mrs. Robinson, assisted by the remaining ministers, including Mr. Mitchell who had received a gift of preaching in his recent baptism in the Holy Ghost.
No better description of these tent meetings could be given, perhaps, than this vivid account by Bessie Bolund Pottinger, who attended them as a girl:
“My mother, hungry for God, had gone for a fortnight to attend a camp meeting in Indiana, leaving me for the first time to keep house for Father,” writes Bessie Bolund Pottinger. “One Sunday a school friend came to ask if I would go with her to a tent meeting in progress on Elisha Avenue, ‘for fun.’ ‘They are strange meetings,’ she said, ‘with a number of ministers, both men and women, on the platform who just sit and praise the Lord, sing spontaneously, speak in tongues, and prophesy.’ I was ‘all for it,’ as time was dragging a bit, and agreed to go, if she would help with the dishes.
“It was a long walk for a warm Sunday afternoon, but my friend entertained me on the way, having previously attended the meetings, with stories of their uniqueness. So we arrived, all prepared for a good time, and sat on the end of the very last bench.
“There they sat, these ministers in white, just as described, praising the Lord. We soon forgot to giggle and ‘have fun,’ for God was in the midst of these ‘odd’ people. The end of the service found us weeping at the altar in the sawdust....
“We were so sobered and melted that our conversation en-route home took on a different tone. We exchanged our first impressions of the ministers, describing them by their dress, characteristics, and ministries performed, since we did not yet know them by name. Mrs. Robinson was the ‘little one, who wore a white dress with black velvet bow at the neck and white sailor hat, and talked of Jesus as if she knew Him!’ And she did, as I was soon to learn.
“In those days I was very timid and reserved with strangers and did not find it easy to express myself either privately or publicly, but in my heart of thirteen years I knew her people would be my people, and her God my God, and I would cast my lot within this work of His.
“When Mother returned from her camp meeting, she found me in one, too, every possible opportunity sitting at the feet of Jesus, drinking in His Word as it flowed from lips of clay. Being a good mother, she came with me her first Sunday home to see what I had gotten into, and was satisfied, with me, to call it ‘Home.’
“One of my early recollections of close contact with Mrs. Robinson was being told through her the innermost thoughts and actions of my life, being taught how to seek Jesus for myself, to overcome a strong self-will, which operated mostly at home, until the enemy which was binding me would be himself bound, and I would be set free. Some weeks later, the never-to-be-forgotten moment arrived, when Mrs. Robinson came into a weekday morning seeking meeting, and in the majestic, quiet power of the Holy Spirit laid her hand upon my head and quietly cast out my tormentor. I knew I was loosed and cleansed. But she did not leave me alone to face, in youth and ignorance, the testings that would recur, subsequent to the grooves formed in my nature as a result of habitually seeking my own will.”
Bessie’s testimony goes beyond the time of the tent meetings but shows their further fruit:
“It was at about the age of fifteen, as a result of such help through a vessel wholly given to her Beloved, that all my then-present and future life was fully consecrated to Him. A number of years later I returned to her one day in distress, feeling I had failed Him and was not in the consecration. The help she gave nine then may help someone, who in a similar distress reads this, so I pass it on. ‘Did you consecrate completely?’ she queried.
“‘Yes,’ I replied.
“‘Have you ever taken that consecration back, or changed your mind and don’t want to have “just Jesus” and be all His?’
“‘No, no,’ my heart cried.
“‘Well, then, neither has He. You entered into a contract with Him, which He is able and will keep for and with you!’
“O blessed, wonderful Words of life, flowing from lips and a life all His. Such words flow on to Eternity!”
Not all who attended the tent meetings were children, the curious, or scoffers. Many of the regular attendants were some of the most respected and prominent citizens of the community, cultured, educated, prosperous business people. Among this group were Mr. and Mrs. H. Worthington Judd.
Mr. Judd, it will be remembered, was the gentleman who had actually found the site for Zion City. As Secretary and General Manager of Zion Land and Investment Association, he with his assistants had handled all the property transactions for the city’s thousands of settlers and investors. After the city had been opened, he became its Commissioner of Public Works and a trustee of Zion Lace Factory where Martha Wing Robinson had served as secretary to the manager. In addition, he had been the conductor of Zion’s famous, white-robed choir of about five hundred voices, in which Mrs. Robinson had regularly sung. All in all, he was one of Dr. Dowie’s main helpers and was recognized as a man of culture and of unusual musical and business ability.
Anyone so deeply involved in both the religious and the economic life and government of the city as he could not but be deeply affected by the tragic failure, spiritual and financial, which had befallen church and city. Faithful to God, he determined to seek and to find spiritual satisfaction in spite of all that had happened. In this spirit he came to the tent meetings, and his hungry soul was fed with the bread and water of life.
Naturally he desired his beloved wife to share his blessing and so invited her to the meetings. At first she refused as she was not interested, for she was not born again, nor was she particularly interested in things spiritual, especially in anything which many considered fanatical. A capable teacher and a successful businesswoman in her own right, for some years now she had conducted “Mrs. Judd’s School of Shorthand” in both Zion and Waukegan. Her business career and her family life were her all in all.
At length, however, Mr. Judd persuaded her to attend one of the tent services. In the first meeting she felt the power of God and consequently was willing to return with her husband for a Sunday morning service. During this meeting there was a rather prolonged period of silent worship during which Mrs. Robinson and the other ministers sat perfectly still, lost in love and worship, as God poured out His Spirit and brought the entire congregation into silence, very much like a waiting time among the Quakers of old. To energetic Mrs. Judd, who for years had made it her business to utilize every waking moment with profitable activity, such inactivity was a shameful waste of time, useless and senseless.
When Mrs. Robinson greeted the departing worshippers at the close of the service, Mrs. Judd could not but make some remark about the ability and willingness of the ministers to be so still for so long a time as they had. To this Mrs. Robinson replied, “Oh, we platform workers would sit perfectly still for an hour if God didn’t move us to speak or do something.”
Mrs. Judd continued to attend the services from time to time, still not too interested and primarily to please her husband. God’s Spirit, however, was drawing her to Christ. Some months later she was gloriously born again. Now she enjoyed the meetings for the most part and appreciated the ministry. Some things greatly troubled her, however—especially the periodic times of silent worship. A “know-it-all business person,” so she described herself at that time, she “felt very puzzled and doubtful about the silent times in the meetings.” She later testified, “I admired these people immensely and knew how very spiritual they were, but it was puzzling that they didn’t know the thing which I had known for many years, namely, that we should never waste a minute.
“One night, when I was on my way out of the evening meeting, as I reached for my coat, I heard a woman who was a regular attendant at the meetings say to Mrs. Robinson, ‘Now, Mrs. F— says that she would come to the meetings, but she cannot stand the silent times.’ That gave me my opportunity. I immediately called out to both of them, ‘Well, the fact is, it’s all we can do to stand them ourselves.’
“In stern, almost stentorian tones the Lord spoke through Mrs. Robinson: ‘Mrs. Judd, how do you dare speak that way about the greatest thing done in our meetings?’ As I was ambitious, I thought I ought to investigate the greatest thing the Lord did in the meetings. Evidently, it was not just a waste of time. God greatly blessed me in my investigating.”
Two or three years later the Holy Spirit called Mrs. Judd to be one of the ministers or vessels of the work, and then she gave up her schools. Mr. Judd, who continued his real estate and insurance business, became the work’s minister of music, playing the organ for the services, and enriching them with his full tenor solos, arranging other special numbers, and training the young people of the work as faithfully and professionally as he had his choir of five hundred.
Another earnest seeker after the Lord in these tent meetings was a refined colored woman, Ursie Naylor (Mrs. A. W.), a graduate of Wilberforce University. When God filled her with His Spirit, she spoke in other tongues in a foreign language unknown to herself but perfectly intelligible to someone in the audience.
In after-days the Lord bestowed various spiritual gifts upon this handmaiden of His, and she became one of Mrs. Robinson’s most valued associates in the work of the Lord. Of majestic bearing, she had the authority of God and was used to help many. “We accepted her as one of us,” remarked Mrs. Robinson’s first associate worker. “She was superior to the rest of us. God did more for her than for the rest of us.” Mrs. Robinson once said, so this same minister further recalled, that God was going to do more for the black people in these last days than for the white because they had been such a despised race. A true Christian, who truly believed that God had made of one blood all nations, Mrs. Robinson had no color prejudice.
Many of those who attended the tent meetings had never recovered from the discouragement and bitterness of soul they had suffered several years before from the financial and spiritual failure that had taken place in the city. By brooding over their sorrows and disappointments, they had sunk deeper into the Slough of Despond. The Good Shepherd was after these scattered and wounded sheep. Out of her own experience Mrs. Robinson was able to help them back. Through her the Holy Spirit taught them to look away from their troubles and trials and to turn their eyes upon Jesus. Of inestimable value to such was the teaching to praise the Lord, audibly and at length, and thereby obey the scriptural injunctions, “Rejoice in the Lord always. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
“You can break through any cloud, you can dig through any stone, you can break through any darkness the devil can put over you, if you will praise the Lord….
“You do not know what would happen to you if you would from day to day, hour to hour, moment to moment, praise the Lord. It would eclipse all that you have ever known. You would always see Him.
“There would come into your being a marvelous change, delights in His own way and His desires instead of the desires of the natural man, reveling in His presence – blessing and praising and magnifying His holy name. The highest form of service we can render to God is to worship and praise Him continually.”
As the hearers obeyed these admonitions, their gloom and discouragement were dispelled. They were brought out of darkness into the sunshine of His love and the clear daylight of his presence. Many in the city recalled in after-years, with deepest and everlasting thanksgiving, the way in which the Lord dug them out of their horrible pit and established their goings as the result of the teaching on praise which they had received from His servant.
Among the regular attendants were a number of ministers who were living in Zion City. Some of these had been greatly called and used of God in former days, but had either given up all thought of service or were marking time, waiting for doors to open. A number of such were restored and returned to their labors for God.
If these tent meetings were primarily for the edification of believers, laymen, and ministers, the unsaved were by no means neglected. Many of the earnest Christians who attended the services had unsaved children. One day the Lord had Mrs. Robinson speak to four parents about their respective oldest daughters – Lucia, Maud, Helen, and Katherine – who were either unsaved or just beginning to turn to the Lord. The Lord, speaking by His vessel, said to these parents that He desired to use their girls in His vineyard and that they should pray that they would be saved and prepared for His service.
Eventually, all except one became Christian workers. Lucia went to Africa, where she labored for many years, finally laying down her life in martyrdom at the hand of communist-inspired natives. How the Lord used Helen and Katherine in His harvest field will be seen later in this narrative. Thinking of the one girl who did not get into the work of the Lord, Mrs. Robinson once commented, sadly, that something went wrong whereby she failed to enter in.
As September advanced, the time came for the tent meetings to close, and the Lord indicated that Mrs. Robinson was to return to Toronto on Monday, September 26, accompanied by her two traveling companions. The day appointed for departure came, but there was not enough money for the fares. The very hour came to leave the house for the train! Still Mrs. Robinson and her friends did not have their fares! The luggage had been packed, however, and was on the porch ready to be taken to the station. All was in readiness for the journey, save for those last-minute things which must be done. God had proved His word too many times for Mrs. Robinson to doubt that He would provide the money in time, and so she was calmly preparing to leave as she had been directed.
Then there was a knock at the door. Alexander Taylor had come directly from his labor in the coalyard a few blocks away. A virtual stranger to Mrs. Robinson and the others, he had attended perhaps two of the tent meetings. Just incidentally he had heard that two or three of the ministers were going to Canada, but as it was none of his business, he did not pay any attention to it and did not know that this was the day they were to leave. Before going to work that day, however, as he prayed, the Lord dealt with this thrifty Englishman to take along with him some of the money he had carefully stored away. As the morning progressed, he had been so deeply impressed that he should give it to Mrs. Robinson that he left his work and made his way to the home on Elisha Avenue.
“I want to see Mrs. Robinson,” Mr. Taylor told the person who answered his knock.
“Oh, she’s busy packing up.”
Mr. Taylor waited for a time until Mrs. Robinson could come down. Shaking hands within her caller she asked him what he wanted.
“How do you people live?”
“We live by faith.”
Mr. Taylor did not understand that answer and thought he had better “come down to brass tacks.”
“Have you got your fare for where you’re going?” he abruptly asked, coming directly to the point.
“Well, no, we’ve just got a few dollars.”
Then he pulled out a handful of bills and gave them to her—enough for the fares! In a few minutes the household was gathered together for prayer and then left for the depot.
Mr. Taylor accompanied the group, as it was in the direction of his work anyway. While the train was pulling into the station, he was impressed to give Mrs. Robinson more money, and as she was just about to step onto the steps of the car, he pressed a substantial bill into her hand.
So the Lord supplied, not only the fares, but something to go on—just in time.
How perfectly time Lord had timed the closing of Mrs. Robinson’s ministry in Zion may be seen from the following event. Two days after Mrs. Robinson had left, a court injunction was secured and issued “to cease the use and occupancy” of the lots on which the tent was. The Lord had restrained the wrath of man, however, until His work had been accomplished and His servant had fulfilled her God-given mission.
Be the first to react on this!
Martha Wing Robinson (1874 - 1936)
Martha held meetings which touched people to return to the work of the service of God. The Robinsons opened a "Faith Home" where people would come for teaching and prayer. Like George Muller they depended on God to provide what was needed for expenses. Thousands came through her home and healings were a regular occurrence. Her husband died in April of 1916, but Martha continued in her ministry. She had a very sharp gift of discernment and regularly told people the secrets of their hearts. She often had directive prophetic words for those under her care. Many young people came to the home for training and went into the mission fields and evangelistic endeavours.Martha Wing Robinson died June 26, 1936. Shortly before she died she stated her life's message "Nothing matters but Christ Jesus." Her whole life was spent in the service of God and for the Glory of His Son Jesus. She had seen many healed, saved, delivered, empowered and sent out. She was truly a mother in Israel. In 1962 Gordon P. Gardiner wrote a book about her life called "Radiant Glory" because that is how she lived her life.