The Unknown Prophet

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The obvious question is what did this prophet have to say about the Sabbath-keeping branch of the Millerites that followed Ellen G. White?  I'm also curious to know his explanation for the "great disappointment."

From the Logos version of the Ellen White Encyclopedia:

Foy, William Ellis (1818–1893). Black pastor, preacher, and prophet who was part of the Millerite Adventist movement and received at least four visions prior to 1844. Tested and tried by the divine charge laid on him, Foy faithfully fulfilled his commission to share with others the messages of his visions. Until the end of his life he continued preaching the message of a soon-coming Savior.

Foy was born in 1818 in Kennebec County, near Augusta, Maine, to Joseph and Elizabeth “Betsy” Foy. William was the eldest of three boys and one girl in a family of free Blacks in a community of Black professionals, land-owners, farmers, and skilled laborers. Foy was baptized in the Freewill Baptist Church during his teen years and early showed a proclivity toward spiritual interests.

Foy lived and ministered during the mid-1800s, at the height of the Advent awakening. In 1842, while in his early 20s, he was given several dramatic visions. These consisted of lofty revelations of heaven and the judgment, events that were to take place before Christ’s second coming, including God’s care over the Advent believers. The visions were similar to those later given to *Hazen Foss and Ellen White.

Foy’s experience has for years been presented erroneously. Although he was of light complexion, he is often incorrectly referred to as a mulatto. He has been accused of failing, like Hazen Foss, to tell the visions to others for fear of being ridiculed or persecuted. To the contrary, Foy, a minister of exceptional talent, demonstrated his complete cooperation to be used by God. He did pause in his preaching for a three-month period because of persecution, economics, and hardship, but after that time he continued sharing what he had seen in vision as long as there were invitations.

In 1845 Foy wrote a pamphlet entitled The Christian Experience of William E. Foy Together With the Two Visions He Received in the Months of January and February 1842. In this book Foy passionately portrayed his conversion, trials, the receiving of two visions and their content, and his deep longing for the soon coming of Christ. After the writing of this publication, his ministerial role evidently continued for almost 50 years.

Ellen White and *John Loughborough attested to the legitimacy of William Foy’s revelatory experience, as did John and Charles Pearson, a medical doctor, eight local witnesses, and his wife. Said Ellen White: “[Foy] had … four visions: … It was remarkable testimonies that he bore” (EGW, “William Foy,” DF 231). The visions were designed to warn, to prepare, and to prevent disappointment among those who would understand and heed them. Furthermore, these visions contain admonition, instruction, and exhortation for us today.

Ellen White said that she had printed copies of Foy’s visions and, with her father, had heard Foy speak on a number of different occasions, hence was acquainted with him and his message. Some of the scenes they each saw in vision were similar. Certain terms and phrases used by Ellen White resemble those employed by Foy, although their emphases and styles were different. In no way competing, they both recognized the genuineness and authenticity of each other’s work.

The manner in which William Foy and Ellen White received their visions was alike in many respects, but not in every particular. They both appeared to come under supernatural influence. Both had witnesses and a medical examination when in vision, which attested that the experience fell outside the realm of natural or self-induced phenomena. Ellen White’s longest vision lasted approximately four hours, while Foy’s longest was more than 12 hours.

William Foy’s role was not that later filled by Ellen White. They stood at different moments in history, confronted with contrasting circumstances and challenges. Foy served as a spokesman for God to the Advent movement in the predisappointment period, whereas Ellen White was called to minister to the postdisappointment Adventist believers. Foy spoke to the early Advent movement; he received a limited number of visions with a set objective. He never suggested that his prophetic role would extend past 1844, or that he would receive more visions.

Foy was involved in the Millerite movement, though we have no indication that he expected Christ to come on October 22, 1844. Some Millerites didn’t accept a specific date, although they didn’t oppose it. They simply heralded the soon coming of Christ. In a pamphlet he wrote, Foy made no reference to the 1844 disappointment, but simply says he waited for Jesus’ soon coming.

Foy’s writings are profitable as inspirational and instructional reading. He fulfilled his task as a prophet to the Advent movement in the predisappointment time and continued to minister and serve God. William Foy died November 9, 1893, at age 75 and was buried in Ellsworth, Maine.

Further reading: D. W. Baker, The Unknown Prophet (RHPA, 1987); W. E. Foy, Christian Experience (Portland, Maine: J. and C. H. Pearson, 1845; reprint, intro. D. W. Baker, ed. M. D. Burt, AUP, 2005); T. Poirier, “Black Forerunner to Ellen White: William E. Foy,” Spectrum 28, no. 5 (August 1987): 23–28; J. R. Nix and P. A. Gordon, In the Footsteps of the Pioneers (EGWE, 1990), pp. 18–20.

Delbert W. Baker

Thinking said:

Just downloaded The Christian Experience of William E. Foy.docx and William Foy.jpg file on the Adventist Faithlife documents site

Actually I should have said, Just UPLOADED.