Could an angel really have stood guard that night?
July 10, 2026 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | D. A. Delafield and Gerald Wheeler
Many, many years ago, when Ellen White (one of the cofounders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church) was in Australia, she attended a camp meeting. In those days everybody slept in tents during camp meeting. Mrs. White was no exception.
This particular year more than 500 people attended a meeting at Brighton Beach (near Melbourne). All the tents were neatly arranged throughout the campground. This greatly impressed many of the non-Adventists who were also attending.
When Mrs. White preached, the crowd got really excited. The topics were so interesting! She talked about the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, and Jesus coming again. Mrs. White was happy to see the listeners’ enthusiasm.
But there were some people who were not very happy about the camp meeting. There was a group of kids—“larrikins,” as the Australians called them—who wanted to disrupt the meetings. They came into the camp area and threw stones. They attacked the tents, and even pulled one down.
Several students from the Australian Bible School were asked to stand guard. They were able to keep the larrikins from doing a lot more damage, but this didn’t stop them from plotting to do more. The larrikins decided that the next night they would pull down Mrs. White’s own tent while she was in it.
They were thrilled with this new plan. They were so pleased with themselves that they bragged to the student guards about it. One of the students hurried to a teacher and told them. The camp guards immediately went to the Melbourne Police Department. The police assigned a tall Irish policeman to guard Mrs. White’s tent.
Mrs. White believed that God sent His angels to protect her in many different situations, and she knew He would take care of her again. She really didn’t think the policeman was needed, but she accepted his help anyway and went to her tent for the night.
As the night wore on, the policeman kept an eye out for trouble. Suddenly, sometime after midnight, he glanced toward Mrs. White’s tent and saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking directly at the tent, he saw that it was fine. Turning his eyes away for a minute, he soon saw a light take the form of an angel standing guard over Mrs. White’s tent! The policeman quickly dropped to his knees and prayed. He watched the angel for a few minutes, then quietly got up and walked back to the police station.
When he got to the station, he explained what had happened and how he felt that Mrs. White was being protected much better than he ever could. The other police officers understood what he was saying and didn’t question him.
The next day the Irish policeman went back to the meetings. This time he came to listen to the woman who had been protected by one of God’s own angels. The more he heard, the more he liked what he heard. Soon he decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
D. A. Delafield and Gerald Wheeler
This story was adapted from Angel Over Her Tent, by D. A. Delafield and Gerald Wheeler, copyright © 1969, Southern Publishing Association.