William Budge's Warning Voice — Saved from a Wrecked Steamer by Divine Interposition (c. 1879)

Elder William Budge (1828–1919), a Scottish convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who became a prominent missionary, president of the European/British Mission (1878–1880), and later president of the Bear Lake Stake, recorded a striking instance of divine interposition that he published in the Faith-Promoting Series. Returning from a visit to Scotland, where he had met old friends, Budge arrived at Liverpool intending to continue his journey by steamer to Bristol. As he was about to board the vessel, he was warned by a voice not to go. Heeding the heavenly warning, he turned back. He then found himself short of money for an alternate route, but the needed means were providentially provided at that very moment, enabling him to journey on to Portsmouth instead. The sequel confirmed the reality of the warning: the steamer he had been about to take was wrecked. Budge regarded the timely warning voice and the providential provision of funds as a manifest preservation of his life through divine interposition — one of several faith-promoting experiences he contributed to the Church's instructional literature for the rising generation.