- "Life & Religious Experience of Jarena Lee," born in Cape May, New Jersey on February 11, 1783:
Lee said the voice of God told her "Go preach the gospel". But she was not sure it was the voice of God or Satan because she knew Satan had the ability of deception. She immediately went to a secret place of prayer, asking God to confirm His calling her to preach. Lee said God confirmed His first calling by the formation of a pulpit with a Bible lying on it.
Two days later, Lee visited Reverend Richard Allen, the head of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, to tell him of her calling by God to preach the gospel. He told her it was against the church policy to permit women to preach in the church, but they could exhort and hold prayer meetings. Then it occurred to her, didn't Mary Magdalene, a woman, preach about the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:11-18)? Once again the Spirit led Lee into prayer and there appeared a man dressed in a white garment, saying: "Thou shall never return from the cross". And from that day forward in 1807, Lee never once doubted God's ability to keep her from falling during her ministry.
Lee had an opportunity to hear Rev. Richard Williams, a delegate to the first General Convention of the A.M.E. Church in 1816, preach at Bethel Church. But after he had given his text, "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9), he hesitated for a moment; Lee immediately sprang to her feet and started expounding the text. After she had sat down, she thought Rev. Williams would expel her from the church, but instead, he expressed his belief that she surely was called by God to preach. 5
"Memoirs of Julia Foote," who was born in Schenectady, New York in 1823:
As days past, Julia felt the impression that God wanted her to work in the vineyard; this led her to pray about the matter. As an angel appeared before her with a scroll which read, "Thee have I chosen to preach My gospel without delay". One night Julia was seeking the Lord to remove this burden of preaching the gospel from her. An angel again spoke to her, "You are lost unless you obey God's righteous commands." Two weeks later, for the third time, an angel again spoke these words: "You have I chosen to go in My name and warn the people of their sins". Julia immediately said, "I will go, God". Julia soon faced opposition, but mostly from her local pastor. He refused to allow her to preach in the local church anywhere in Boston. In regards to this matter, Julia held a meeting in her home with various members of the congregation. Because her pastor felt she had broken some church rule, Julia was excommunicated. Julia later submitted her grievance to the church conference, held in Philadelphia. But her complaints were not even considered but thrown under the table. 6
As days past, Julia felt the impression that God wanted her to work in the vineyard; this led her to pray about the matter. As an angel appeared before her with a scroll which read, "Thee have I chosen to preach My gospel without delay". One night Julia was seeking the Lord to remove this burden of preaching the gospel from her. An angel again spoke to her, "You are lost unless you obey God's righteous commands." Two weeks later, for the third time, an angel again spoke these words: "You have I chosen to go in My name and warn the people of their sins". Julia immediately said, "I will go, God". Julia soon faced opposition, but mostly from her local pastor. He refused to allow her to preach in the local church anywhere in Boston. In regards to this matter, Julia held a meeting in her home with various members of the congregation. Because her pastor felt she had broken some church rule, Julia was excommunicated. Julia later submitted her grievance to the church conference, held in Philadelphia. But her complaints were not even considered but thrown under the table. 6
"Mrs. Zilpha Elaw", born in the state of Pennsylvania around 1790:
In 1817, Zilpha, while attending a gospel camp meeting, a voice spoke to her and said: "Now thou art sanctified, and I will show thee what thou must do". Afterward, as she appeared not to be on earth, she prayed publicly. Many came requesting her to present their petitions to God, thus began her "ministry of prayer". Before the end of the gospel camp-meeting, the Holy Spirit revealed to Zilpha that she was to be like another Phoebe [Romans 16:1-2, a colleague of Apostle Paul] who was to visit families; she was to speak to them about salvation, the state of their soul, and to visit the sick. This revelation confirmed what her sister, after recovering from a near-death experience, had stated a year previously. Her sister had said she had seen Jesus, had been in the society of the angels, and that an angel came and told her that Zilpha must preach the gospel.
Both of these revelations still did not move Zilpha to preach...It was nearly one and one-half years later before Zilpha attended the next camp-meeting. While at the camp-meeting, a voice said to her, "Go outside of the tent while I speak to thee". Immediately, Zilpha went outside of the tent, and began to speak, as if involuntarily, exhorting the people. After Zilpha had finished speaking, she said, "I sat down and closed my eyes. There appeared a light shining round about me as well as within me. Above the brightness of the sun and out of that light, the same identical voice which had spoken to me on the bed of sickness many months before, spoke again to me on the campground, and said, "Now thou knowest the will of God concerning thee; thou must preach the gospel, and thou must travel far and wide". This was my commission for the work of the ministry, which I received, not from mortal man, but from the voice of an invisible and heavenly personage sent from God. My ministry was commenced in the midst of thousands who witnessed the fact with eye and ear.
After Zilpha returned home, she got the approval of all the ministers in the Methodist Society to preach, but jealousy soon developed toward her among many of her local class members. She became a personal witness to Matthew 13:57. "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and his own house." 7
In 1817, Zilpha, while attending a gospel camp meeting, a voice spoke to her and said: "Now thou art sanctified, and I will show thee what thou must do". Afterward, as she appeared not to be on earth, she prayed publicly. Many came requesting her to present their petitions to God, thus began her "ministry of prayer". Before the end of the gospel camp-meeting, the Holy Spirit revealed to Zilpha that she was to be like another Phoebe [Romans 16:1-2, a colleague of Apostle Paul] who was to visit families; she was to speak to them about salvation, the state of their soul, and to visit the sick. This revelation confirmed what her sister, after recovering from a near-death experience, had stated a year previously. Her sister had said she had seen Jesus, had been in the society of the angels, and that an angel came and told her that Zilpha must preach the gospel.
Both of these revelations still did not move Zilpha to preach...It was nearly one and one-half years later before Zilpha attended the next camp-meeting. While at the camp-meeting, a voice said to her, "Go outside of the tent while I speak to thee". Immediately, Zilpha went outside of the tent, and began to speak, as if involuntarily, exhorting the people. After Zilpha had finished speaking, she said, "I sat down and closed my eyes. There appeared a light shining round about me as well as within me. Above the brightness of the sun and out of that light, the same identical voice which had spoken to me on the bed of sickness many months before, spoke again to me on the campground, and said, "Now thou knowest the will of God concerning thee; thou must preach the gospel, and thou must travel far and wide". This was my commission for the work of the ministry, which I received, not from mortal man, but from the voice of an invisible and heavenly personage sent from God. My ministry was commenced in the midst of thousands who witnessed the fact with eye and ear.
After Zilpha returned home, she got the approval of all the ministers in the Methodist Society to preach, but jealousy soon developed toward her among many of her local class members. She became a personal witness to Matthew 13:57. "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and his own house." 7
Resource:
5Andrews, William L. Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women's Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986
6Ibid
7Ibid
5Andrews, William L. Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women's Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986
6Ibid
7Ibid