Radiant Glory: The Life Story of Martha Wing Robinson

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Text originally published in 1962 under the same title.

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RADIANT GLORY:

THE LIFE OF MARTHA WING ROBINSON

BY

GORDON P. GARDINER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

DEDICATION 4

PREFACE 5

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7

INTRODUCING MARTHA WING ROBINSON 11

CHAPTER ONE—THE PATH BLAZER 17

CHAPTER TWO—IN THE BEGINNING 22

CHAPTER THREE—STEPS TOWARD GOD 27

CHAPTER FOUR—THE CALL TO SURRENDER 30

CHAPTER FIVE—IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION 33

CHAPTER SIX—ONE LITTLE SIN 37

CHAPTER SEVEN—UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER 41

CHAPTER EIGHT—LED IN THE RIGHT WAY 48

CHAPTER NINE—A NEW DISCOVERY 58

CHAPTER TEN—CHRIST THE HEALER 65

CHAPTER ELEVEN—VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND 72

CHAPTER TWELVE—WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING 76

CHAPTER THIRTEEN—NEITHER SHALL THE FLAME KINDLE UPON THEE 81

CHAPTER FOURTEEN—IN TREACHEROUS WATERS 84

CHAPTER FIFTEEN—IN BY-PATH MEADOW 86

CHAPTER SIXTEEN—A SHREW OR A DOORMAT? 94

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—SEEKING HARDER 96

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN—DISCOVERING THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 100

CHAPTER NINETEEN—STANDING UPON THE ROCK 105

CHAPTER TWENTY—THE CALL TO TORONTO 108

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE—THAT I MIGHT KNOW HIM 110

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—IN GOD’S TRAINING SCHOOL 125

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE—IN NECESSITIES 134

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST 138

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—MOVED ONLY AS BY HIM 145

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX—THE GIFTS OR THE GIVER? 147

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN—ENDURING AS SEEING HIM 150

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT—IN THE LAND OF PRAISE 154

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE—CONTROLLED BY THE SPIRIT 158

CHAPTER THIRTY—VESSELS IN THE MAKING 165

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE—TO COMFORT THEM THAT MOURN 169

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO—UNDER THE ANOINTING 175

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE—INWARDNESS 179

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR—COMINGS AND GOINGS 182

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE—CONCERN FOR THE INDIVIDUAL 187

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX—THE CHILDREN’S FRIEND 189

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN—A MINISTER’S MINISTER 194

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT—INSTRUCTING THE NEW CONVERT 197

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE—METHODS OF BIBLE STUDY 199

CHAPTER FORTY—A GLORY HEART NOW! 202

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE—A FORWARD MOVE 204

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO—SIMPLE SPIRITUAL SERVICE 208

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE—IF WE BUT FOLLOW HIM 210

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR—BRANCHING OUT 212

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE—THE CHILDREN’S BREAD 219

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX—AS EACH IS CALLED 221

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN—THE WAY TO OVERCOME 223

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT—YEARS OF FAITH 225

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE—FUNDAMENTAL HELPS FOR A PASTOR 232

CHAPTER FIFTY—TO THE REGIONS BEYOND 242

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE—SET TO GLEANING 246

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO—WHAT DOES GOD SHOW YOU? 250

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE—THUS WE COUNT THE COST 252

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR—AN ABUNDANT ENTRANCE 253

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE—A PRECIOUS SERVICE TO GOD 254

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX—PRAYING THROUGH 257

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN—IN GOD’S HANDS 259

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT 261

PATHWAYS TO THE FEET OF JESUS 261

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE—NOTHING MATTERS BUT CHRIST JESUS! 265

RADIANT GLORY—ADDENDUM 265

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 265

DEDICATION

To the memory of My Mother and Father who dared to prove all things and to hold fast that which was good.

PREFACE

MARTHA WING ROBINSON was an unassuming, little woman, her name known to few besides those with whom she had immediate contact during her lifetime. Among those few, however, were several ministers and missionaries who have labored extensively and successfully in this and other lands, and during the course of their ministry they have referred to the unusual life and experience of their teacher to whom they owed so much. In addition to their testimony numerous of Mrs. Robinson’s writings have been published and circulated the world over in recent years. The result is that today the name of Martha Wing Robinson is much more widely known and her influence far greater than when she died in 1936, over a quarter of a century ago.

With this increase of knowledge of the name and of the works of Mrs. Robinson, there has come an increased interest in her and the desire to know more about her. To satisfy this wish is one of the purposes of this biography.

The story of Martha Wing Robinson is the odyssey of a soul from the quicksands on Unbelief’s shore to Beulah Land—a land flowing with the milk and honey of His own presence, to employ her own descriptive phrases of these experiences. Converted from near-atheism just before the turn of this century, she immediately consecrated herself to a life of prayer, Bible study, and implicit obedience to the will of God. At that time she was an invalid, pronounced incurable by attending physicians, but during the course of her seeking God, He revealed to her Christ as the Healer of the body with the result that she was made every whit whole. Forthwith, she entered upon a life of active and useful Christian service. As she continued her life of prayer and obedience, she was led on into a number of deeper experiences with God, and with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1906, she found Christ as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

With her baptism in the Spirit, the Lord gave her an all-consuming cry to know Jesus in all His fullness, to sink into nothingness herself, and to be absolutely and fully possessed by Christ in her body as well as in her soul. And after nine months of the most intense crying out to God, overwhelming as it may seem, God met her in exactly the manner which her soul craved.

Thus it was that Martha Wing Robinson was used of God to blaze a trail, for others to follow, into the realm of God’s complete possession of body and spirit where it is literally and actually true—not just figuratively or spiritually speaking—that it is Christ living in me. Most fittingly, therefore, she has been called a trail blazer.

Perhaps to the majority of Christians, settled down with their beginning experiences with Christ, wonderful as they may be, Mrs. Robinson’s intense passion for Christ is almost unintelligible, commented one of the critics who reviewed this book in manuscript. And yet it is ironic that, to many who so glibly use the clichés of Christianity, it should seem strange when God permits one of His lovers to experience actually the fullness of God.

This narrative does not purport to be a complete record either of Mrs. Robinson’s personal experiences or of her ministry. Truly it is only a slight part of the story and great wonder of God. The salient facts of her life, however, are set before the reader with the hope that he will note the notches which she left on the trail and so be encouraged and inspired to go on until he, too, finds Jesus Christ in all His fullness.

Ridgewood, N.Y. March 20, 1962

Gordon P. Gardiner

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AS FAR AS POSSIBLE I have endeavored to let Martha Wing Robinson speak for herself, thus making this narrative largely autobiographical. This has been possible because of her journals, notebooks, and other records which were placed at my disposal by her sister, the late Mrs. Nettie E. Graham, and by her secretary and co-worker, Hilda Nilsson of Zion, Illinois.

In addition to this material, I have made extensive use of Mrs. Robinson’s letters which were made available to me by her relatives and many friends. Several incidents included in this account were related to me directly by Mrs. Robinson. These stories I recorded in my journal immediately after hearing them in an effort to preserve them as accurately as possible.

In publishing the various writings of Mrs. Robinson I have taken great care to print them exactly as she wrote them even when it seemed probable that she herself might have revised them had she had the opportunity and even when it seemed that some secretary or typist might have made an inadvertent mistake. Wherever I have had to make any changes in the text, I have clearly indicated the same by the standard marks employed in such instances.

Evidently as a young woman Mrs. Robinson had been interested in her ancestry, for in an old family Bible there were pinned some sheets of paper on the first of which, in her handwriting, is a request she made of her father’s sister:

Please write on that page names of grandpa’s brothers and sisters in order of age and also grandma’s. A comparison of the appended list of names with a suggested genealogy supplied by Grace Wing Barnes, genealogist for the Wing Family of America, resulted in establishing the line of Martha Wing Robinson’s forefathers. Complete corroborating evidence was supplied by the United States Census reports which Rev. Mr. Charles N. Andrews of Fredericksburg, Va., searched on a special trip made to Washington for that purpose. Valuable and interesting information concerning the Wing family was secured from The Owl, the periodical of the Wing Family.

As for her maternal ancestry, Mrs. Robinson had also supplied the clue for tracing it when she had underlined the name, Tuttle, in the biography of Jonathan Edwards which my mother had given her. This reference led to the standard genealogy of the Tuttle family and to correspondence with A. M. Tuttle, professor of economics of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, who immediately sent me the complete line of Mrs. Robinson’s maternal forebears back to—even before—those who came to this country in 1635. Walter Muir Whitehill, Director and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts, graciously furnished me with an official transcript from the records of the First Church of Boston telling of Elizabeth Tuttle’s membership.

In the research work necessary for various parts of this book I am deeply grateful for the help of my friend, the late Charles Kreuzer, who procured numerous volumes from the libraries of Columbia University, where he worked, and from the Union Theological Seminary, New York City.

Other information concerning Mrs. Robinson’s immediate family and background was supplied by her nephew and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon L. Graham, of Rock Island, Illinois, who have carefully preserved the family records of more than a hundred years, together with pictures and other memorabilia. All these things they made available to me and granted permission for their publication. Without their help much of interest in this volume could not have been included.

A trip to Mrs. Robinson’s birthplace in Iowa, made possible through the courtesy of Rev. Mr. Paul Mitchell of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was most rewarding. The town itself has vanished, but by the providence of God our steps were immediately directed to C. K. Greer, who had gone to school with the Wing girls, had attended the revival services in which Mattie was converted, and so was able to supply a number of details concerning her family and childhood. Following his direction we located her birthplace.

Inquiry directed to the Rev. Mr. Clarence H. Ferguson, pastor of St. John’s United Church, Kemptville, Ontario, Canada, resulted in illuminating data of the period and place where as a teenager Mattie had received the call from God to live and work just for Himself. Further knowledge concerning people and events connected with this same time were supplied by the Rev. Mr. George Boyle, sometime archivist and historian of the United Church of Canada, Toronto. And the information bureau of the Toronto Daily Star gave the weather conditions for the day on which the announcement of the opening of the Faith Home in that city was made—a rather important detail under the circumstances.

From Sara M. Brooks I secured (Dec. 1, 1935) a signed narrative of one of the most important periods in the life of Mrs. Robinson, many of the events of which Mrs. Brooks had witnessed and in some of which she had participated. After affixing her signature she remarked, But it is only a slight part of the story and great wonder of God. Slight it may have been and was, but invaluable for the purpose of this book.

All of Mrs. Robinson’s other associates in the ministry, besides those already mentioned, have contributed to the production of this work: Elder Eugene Brooks, Eva MacPhail Leggett (Mrs. W. H.), Mr. and Mrs. George A. Mitchell, L. M. Judd (Mrs. H. Worthington), Stella Leggett, and Mr. Rex B. Andrews. (They are all gone into the world of light! save the last one.)

Many others have given me their personal recollections and help. Those who have done so would be too numerous to mention by name, and there is always the possibility that someone would be omitted. To every one of these friends I would take this opportunity to express my appreciation.

My special thanks are due to three friends who took the time and effort to read carefully the manuscript preparatory to its publication:

John M. Gordon, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, Pennsylvania;

Ronald L. Klaus, graduate student of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.;

Hans R. Waldvogel, pastor of the Ridgewood Pentecostal Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., with whom it has been my inestimable privilege to work for twenty-five years. When I was still a boy, he gave me some of the first source material for this book and through the years has given me an increased appreciation of the life and ministry of Martha Wing Robinson. Each of these men in his own way and from his own standpoint has given helpful suggestions and criticism.

Throughout the almost twenty years that I have been working on this book, quite a number of secretaries have freely contributed their services. Edith Woessner Bella typed the first draft which was read and approved, with one or two exceptions, by Mrs. Graham and Miss Nilsson. Their suggestions have been incorporated in this draft. Much additional material has been included in this final draft typed by Leone Wilson who also gave many constructive criticisms regarding the text. A number of the details incident to preparation for publication have been kindly cared for by Tessie Wahl.

The kind co-operation of Mr. Benjamin S. Harrison of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, in taking the aerial photo of Sandwich, Massachusetts, and in identifying the places of interest for this narrative has been most magnanimous. Special thanks are due the Bingham Photoengraving Company of New York City for the engravings which it has provided for use in this book. Mss Eleanor Perz has most graciously contributed her valuable services in various ways towards the production of this work.

So great has been the inspiration, prayer, and actual work expended on this manuscript by my most capable helpmeet that she could virtually be termed its co-author.

Next to her I owe a debt of gratitude to the Rev. Mr. N. V. Ernest Oldfield of Brooklyn, N.Y., not only for his encouragement and insistence on my writing this book but also for his willingness to read it and give suggestions during the course of its preparation. And it may not be amiss to mention here that during the course of my research into Mrs. Robinson’s genealogy, I discovered that through his mother’s family Mr. Oldfield was distantly connected with the Wing family.

The picture of Mrs. Robinson, which serves as the frontispiece of this book, was taken in Toronto in 1918. Desiring a professional opinion as to what was her best likeness, I took this picture, along with the excellent one of her which had been published with the testimony of her healing in 1900, to a prominent New York City photographer, who of course knew nothing of her life or experience. For more than thirty years, however, he had analyzed thousands of faces so that he might best reproduce their individual personalities. His success in this respect may be judged from the fact that he had the reputation of being one of the four best operators in New York City.

After briefly studying and comparing the two pictures, he said, referring to the Toronto picture, This is the woman. Then, speaking of the earlier photograph, he commented, This is the picture of a proper, refined schoolteacher, but this is the picture of one who has gone through and seen life whole." Her most intimate friends could not have said it better than did this stranger.

In 1947 I mentioned to Mrs. A. W. Naylor of Chicago, Illinois, who was one of Mrs. Robinson’s closest associates in the ministry, that I was at work on this biography. To this Mrs. Naylor responded with one of her terse but powerful comments: You want to write it with glory, for her life was one of radiant glory. It was from that remark that the title for this life of Martha Wing Robinson has come.

Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!

Be Thou Thyself the answer to all my questionings.

Live out Thy life within me—In all things have Thy way!

I, the transparent medium, Thy glory to display.

The temple has been yielded and purified of sin;

Let Thy Shekinah glory now flash forth from within,

And all the earth keep silence, The body henceforth be

Thy silent, docile servant, Moved only as by Thee.

Its members every moment held subject to Thy call;

Ready to have Thee use them, Or not he used at all;

Held without restless longing, Or strain or stress or fret,

Or chafings at Thy dealings, Or thoughts of vain regret.

But restful, calm and pliant, From bend and bias free,

Permitting Thee to settle when Thou hast need of me.

Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!

Be Thou the glorious answer to all my questionings.

This hymn is attributed to F. R. Havergal in Songs of Victory, a song hook used by Mrs. Robinson for many years. It is not, however, in the authorized edition of Miss Havergal’s complete poems. On several occasions Mrs. Robinson indicated to the author of this book that this was her favorite hymn, at least her favorite in Songs of Victory.

INTRODUCING MARTHA WING ROBINSON

One could not be in her presence long without recognizing her life was controlled by the One who dwelt within her. There was an inner radiancy and something of a celestial fire which burned the love of Jesus into our very souls.

This testimonial to the life and influence of Martha Wing Robinson comes from Helen Innes Wannenmacher who with her husband, Joseph Wannenmacher, has ministered for over forty years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resulting in the establishment of seven churches in that area and the thrusting forth of more than fifty young people into the whitened harvest fields.

Continuing with her reminiscences Mrs. Wannenmacher relates, "I saw her first when I was about eleven years old, when my father and I visited in the hotel where she was staying. I do not yet know why I should have remembered her, but I did.

"Small of stature, charmingly simple and modest, dainty in appearance, she was kind in her interest in me. Somehow, as a child, I felt her beautiful spirit was giving meaning to this new place where I had come to live, and I was happy. I had lost my mother when I was a babe, and now my father had brought me from my home and loved ones in Cincinnati to Zion, Illinois, where everything seemed strange and so different.

"What I did not know was that it was God who had led us to our new home in Zion, and it was He who had brought about the ‘chance’ meeting with this His ‘devoted minister’ who He knew would one day lead me to His feet—to accept Him as my own loving Saviour.

Her life and influence have meant more to me than that of any one else in the world. The world is a different place because she lived.

Ruth Brooks, one of the ministers of the Faith Homes of Zion, Illinois, first met Mr. and Mrs. Robinson in 1907, when they came to Toronto, Canada, to hold meetings for her father. Throughout the remainder of Mrs. Robinson’s life—about thirty years—Miss Brooks was closely associated with her, living in the same house with her for some time. She it is who furnishes the following graphic pen picture of the subject of this biography:

"To the eyes of the casual observer Martha Robinson would have appeared to be simply a gracious little lady—small-boned and fashioned on the junior-size scale—her height approximately five feet, three inches. Standing beside her tall husband, she looked like a pocketbook hanging from his arm.

"My earliest memory of Mrs. Robinson was of a small woman wearing a black skirt and white waist with a high kind of frilly collar. She was always neat. Her dark hair parted on one side was curled enough to keep it in place and combed away from a high forehead. The face was widest at the eyes, with a hint of high cheek bones, and oval in shape. Presiding over a sensitive, well-formed nose were large, deep hazel eyes which at times appeared to be almost black. These eyes were penetrating enough to search one’s soul but alive with understanding and compassion. One of her distinctive features was a mouth with corners built in so that they always seemed turned up; this gave the impression of a smile even when her face was in repose.

"Children loved Martha Robinson. They held her in awe, sensing, somehow, the dedication and sanctity of her life, but they were also aware of her love for them. I liked to go to her room whenever I had the ‘great privilege’. Nevertheless I entered with some trepidation, for there was that Presence which filled me with a nameless longing. The atmosphere made me want to bow down and weep at Jesus’ feet. The memory of that reality of God’s nearness exerted a powerful influence all through the ‘wandering’ years of my life.

"One day when I was about five years old, this gracious lady—who didn’t seem gracious in the role of a prophet—told me seriously and searchingly things I had done in the few weeks past which I knew no one else knew. And under the conviction of these words, I sobbed for hours, feeling that indeed ‘all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.’

"I was the recipient of her generosity on two specific occasions. I had baked my first cake and was attempting to smooth some very stubborn frosting on it. At the moment of greatest perplexity Mrs. Robinson came through the kitchen and seeing my plight said, ‘Let me show you how to make it easier.’ She scraped sticky stuff from the knife I was using—to all appearances the knife was being iced rather than the cake. Now she smoothed the frosting over the cake, dipping the knife in water frequently. After a sufficient demonstration, my good Samaritan supervised the job until it was completed and seemed as delighted with the result as I was.

"The second time Mrs. Robinson came to my aid I was in my early twenties. I was visiting relatives in Canada and was planning deliberately to inquire into some of the more ‘respectable’ pleasures of the world for myself. I felt at the time that I had been too much restricted and wanted to be assured I was not getting information about life by hearsay. The ‘world’ turned out to be less glamorous than I had been led to believe, but I was still fighting surrender.

"The time arrived for my return home—but I did not have the fare. Finally a letter came from my parents with the needed amount, but the money itself was not from them—it was from Mrs. Robinson! My heart smote me!

"My mother had previously written me that this servant of the Lord had received a flash from heaven: ‘Ruth isn’t very spiritual on this trip!’ This was the understatement of the year, but by it I knew that my spiritual condition had truly been found out and revealed by the Lord Himself to Mrs. Robinson.

"Now one can meet rebellion with rebellion—but this form of attack! Such kindness! The hard crust of my heart began to melt around the edges; the knees of my heart, to bend. It was the softening up for final surrender.

Suppose God had not had a channel for the flow of His love. Suppose Martha Robinson had been unwilling to go along with God in His kind of forgiveness. Thank God these are only suppositions, for He did find a little, unpretentious woman who had said to him directly, ‘Make me a channel in whatever way You choose.’ And because God took her at her word, many will rise up to call her blessed.

On one occasion Mrs. Robinson was the matron of honor when one of her associates was married. Included in the wedding party was a vivacious, delightful, red-haired, freckle-faced flower girl, Mary Elizabeth Judd. Now a minister herself, residing in Zion, Illinois Miss Judd gives this inimitable physical description and personality sketch of her friend in the form of a letter addressed to an imaginary acquaintance:

"Remember the other day when we met at the bookstore downtown, and you asked me to describe my friend, Mrs. Robinson, to you? We were both pressed for time then, so I will try now to comply with your request by letter.

Of course, there are the usual marks of identification. In the first place, she’s not tall—being only slightly over five feet—with dark eyes and hair, small features and a fair complexion. But, I think you will easily recognize her, by the quiet radiance of her dedicated and serious face. Although the unassuming poise of her manner may seem to set her apart, if you have an opportunity to meet her, you will find her interesting, warm, and most understanding. Her keen, penetrating mind and giftedness will more than satisfy your discriminating taste! The unaffected simplicity and love for humanity which possess her seem all-embracing; and her restful atmosphere of calm, unhurried patience will make you feel completely at ease. She can ‘dwell with kings, nor lose the common touch’,—a rare capacity to discover in any society! Doubtless, you’ll notice at once the ease and eagerness with which she adapts herself to the needs of each person and situation. Where many dignitaries or professional people would be too busy or pardonably preoccupied to pay attention to children and young folks, she—being young in heart—never fails to have some kindly word or greeting for them.

Not to tire you with a lengthy description of my friend, I’ll close by mentioning that, in the midst of numerous duties and heavy responsibilities, Mrs. Robinson has most delightful touches of humor often revealed by a low chuckle and smiling eyes.

Martha Wing Robinson appeared on the platform of a gospel tent on a warm summer’s day back in the year ten of this century, recalls Bessie Pottinger who has faithfully served her Master in various churches from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts in this country and has also spent several years in South Africa.

"This new and petite personage, unknown by name or any other biographical knowledge to a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl, nevertheless immediately stood out to her amid the many other briefly known, yet dearly beloved, ministers on that rustic stage. After the service, still not knowing the name of this evangelist, but sensing the love and humility radiating from this slight figure, she must find someone with whom to share this new experience, better felt than told. Having noted every detail of the speaker, she told a girlfriend, ‘She’s small, and her head leans slightly to the left, but not stiff-necked.’

"But just what was it that so captivated the heart of this small-town child, and drew out her love to the pretty, new lady-minister? She was attired in a white shirt-waist dress with a small, white sailor hat, adorned only by a black ribbon, sitting atop soft black hair, self-styled. No beauty parlor touch there! Beneath her hair were heavy eyebrows and gentle, though sometimes penetrating, brown eyes. One could not refrain from observing that these eyes, with their thick black lashes, were never used to attract attention to their owner, but would often close while the pink lips moved quietly as if speaking to Someone very near and dear.

Then, when Martha Wing Robinson stood to address the audience, hearts quickened as they listened to words issuing from those lips which previously had been conversing with that Someone near and dear, bringing forth hidden treasures from the storehouse within. She spoke as the Saviour, her Beloved, spoke when here on earth—so that little ones could hear and understand, but also so that mature, hungering ones bowed to the Jesus within her.

Charles N. Andrews, pastor of the Fredericksburg Pentecostal Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia, furnishes this account of Mrs. Robinson in her latter years:

"She looked as though she might have been someone’s little old mother as she sat in her leather armchair which appeared large—perhaps because of her own smallness—with her head a little to one side. Quite noticeable under her ‘crown of glory’ of lovely white hair were her deep brown eyes—lively, missing nothing, kindly, and interested, eyes that could be quite piercing or filled with sorrow and compassion upon hearing of some tragedy which had happened to another. The fact is, she was a real mother, and, although she did not have any children of her own, many called her ‘Mother.’

"As can readily be seen, this description of Mrs. Robinson is of her later years. In fact, my only personal remembrance of her is that of the last three or four years of her life, although my family and I had lived in the same house with her for some time when I was a very small boy. A happening of that period, as related by my mother, is to me an example of her life and ministry.

While we were living in her home, I became very ill. As Mrs. Robinson passed our room, my mother told her of my serious condition, unquestionably with the thought that she would pray for me. Instead, without even stopping, she quietly said, A mother’s prayers bear special weight with the Father," and so encouraged her to believe for the answer to her own prayers.

"To those who knew Mrs. Robinson this action would not mean that she was heartless or not interested in praying for me—unquestionably she did. Rather, it is an illustration of her ministry. She herself had come to know the Lord in reality, as her Great Physician, for example, and her ministry was not just to tell others what she knew so much as to lead them into that place where they would know and experience Jesus for themselves.

"My first remembered contact with Mrs. Robinson occurred many years later when as a young man I had returned with my family to Zion City and was training for the ministry. During this time it was my privilege to see and to hear her on various occasions, and a number of events showed me clearly that her ministry was truly and always by Christ in her. One outstanding incident conclusively proved to me that it was the Lord Himself who ministered through her.

One day I happened to be in the kitchen of her apartment on some errand. Most unexpectedly the door from her living room opened, and she came out to see me. Immediately and persistently she began to question me about a personal matter which I had discussed with no one. I had been diligently praying about this problem, and desperately had I asked the Lord not to let me make any mistake. Under these circumstances one can imagine my surprise when she herself brought up the issue and dealt with it in such a way that I knew only the Lord could have revealed the situation to her. As she proceeded to question me—one of the methods the Lord had her use to instruct people—she also gave me some pointed advice. Then, suddenly, she said ‘The answer is No",’ and without saying anything more she abruptly left me, returning to the living room, the door closing behind her.

"Of course, I knew what that meant, but only later did I realize that it could only have been Jesus in her, giving me a direct answer to my own prayer to Him. Needless to say, this word kept me from making a mistake that would undoubtedly have hindered me from going on in the ministry in the way that God wanted and consequently would have changed the whole course of my life.

The outstanding thing about her was that Jesus had become the Center and All of her life so that others have been impregnated with the same desire to know Jesus and to have Him reigning within them, living out His life so that both their personal lives and the meetings which they might conduct would be controlled by Him.

This final appreciation of Martha Wing Robinson comes from the pen of Hans R. Waldvogel, pastor of the Ridgewood Pentecostal Church, Brooklyn, New York. In addition to his extensive labors in metropolitan New York, Pastor Waldvogel has also had a worldwide, evangelistic ministry.

"Rumors had come to me from different quarters about a woman who lived in such close fellowship with God that all the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the Bible were exercised by her. Ordinarily one associates the thought of deep-life saints with a forbidding mysticism. Upon making the acquaintance of Mrs. Robinson, however, not only did I find that not the half had been told me of her godliness—but I was pleasantly surprised that instead of an eccentric person, I found a happy, cheerful child of God who certainly lived Constantly in His presence and combined with her spiritual experience had a good dose of common sense.

"How graciously she understood how to minister to old and young the word of life, always endeavoring to lead people to find the Fountain from which she had been drinking—Jesus! Having come to her for guidance about some intricate problem, she smilingly said to me, ‘Why do you come to me for advice when you have free access to Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Ghost? He will instruct and teach you in the way you must go.

"Those who accepted her teaching invariably discovered for themselves the Storehouse of God’s unsearchable riches which she had discovered and to which she had directed them.

Forever then shall I thank God for bringing me in touch with the ‘most unforgettable character’ I have known, Mrs. Robinson, and to enjoy her remarkable ministry which was not in word only but also ‘in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.

CHAPTER ONE—THE PATH BLAZER

True biography was never nor can be written. Fragrance cannot be put into picture or poem. There is a subtle, evasive savor and flavor about character which escapes both tongue and pen. And, more than this, the very best things about such characters and careers are unknown, save to God, and cannot be revealed because they are among His secret things. Like Elijah, the best men hide themselves with God before they show themselves to men. The showing may be written in history, but the hiding has none, and after studying the narrative of such lives, even with the best helps, there remains a deeper and unwritten history that only eternity can unveil.—ANONYMOUS

MARTHA WING ROBINSON was a path blazer and came of a long line of path blazers. Staunch Puritans all of them, the ancestors of both her father and her mother came from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630’s. Thus these stalwart pioneers of the American wilderness were among the founding fathers of the United States.

Martha Wing Robinson’s first American forebear was Daniel Wing who landed at Boston, aboard the William and Francis, June 5, 1632. Then a lad of about fifteen, Daniel had come with his three brothers and his widowed mother, Deborah Bachiler Wing, under the oversight of his maternal grandfather, a Puritan minister, old Mr. Bachelor (being aged 71)...who had suffered much at the hands of the bishops in England, so John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay, records in his famous History of New England.{1} {2}

Upon landing, Grandfather Bachiler lost no time in leading Daniel and the other members of his family to their intended destination, Saugus, a little settlement six miles north of Boston, where he became the first feeder of the flock of Christ.

Daniel Wing continued to live in Saugus for the next five years when the Wings, along with a number of others who were dissatisfied with religious and political conditions in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sought out and were contented with a place in Plymouth Colony on Cape God which they called Sandwich. Here in what was considered a remote wilderness they hoped to enjoy their spiritual and temporal liberties and live peaceably.

For the next twenty years Daniel Wing did live peaceably in this quiet town, pursuing the ordinary life of any pioneer. He bought a farm, married, raised a large family, prospered materially, and performed various civic duties. There is, however, a conspicuous silence in the town and church records of Sandwich of his participation in the organized religious life of the community. The fact is that there was a spirit of indifference to religion in Sandwich, an attitude apparently shared by Daniel Wing.

At length in 1657 two evangelists, who were called by such a name as Quaker, came into those parts. These men and their message were gladly received by many, including Daniel Wing, who had long been burdened with a lifeless ministry and dead forms of religion. The result was that a great fire was kindled, and among the many whose hearts did burn within them was Daniel Wing. Now, although some believed the things which were spoken of the Quaker evangelists, some believed not, so that great was the stir and noise of the tumultuous citie, yea, all in an uproar. And as he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so did it happen in the erstwhile, peaceful town of Sandwich.

Haunted by the authorities of Plymouth Colony, Daniel Wing and the other Quakers were forced to worship in secret. Far within the woods they gathered in a secluded place about 125 feet deep which has since been called Christopher’s Hollow, so named for Christopher Holder, the one who ministered to the people there. The persecution of Daniel Wing and his Quaker associates continued with increasing severity. Repeatedly he was heavily fined so that his entire estate was in danger of being consumed. Finally, all power to act in any town meeting.., or to claim title or interest in any town privileges as townes men was taken from him. In other words, he was stripped of his civil rights.

In spite of all this, like the Daniel of old for whom he was named, Daniel Wing prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. At length, such persecution was ended by order of the king of England in 1661, and some years later his civil rights were restored. Thus by his suffering and steadfastness to the truth the cause of religious liberty was furthered.

Two years after his first