Joseph Sale Warlick 1865-1941 In the second generation of restoration movement, there were a great number of rural, and a few urban preachers who worked hard to eliminate religious error, plant churches and defend the precious doctrine of the New Testament against the errors and false teachers of the denominational world. These men were often frontiersmen which had to be self-taught and self-educated.
They were to be found from the woodlands of Tennessee and Alabama to the west Texas deserts. They could be found in Louisiana northward into the Dominion of Canada. Their job was not to tickle ears as warned by Timothy but to plow the spiritual ground and prepare to plant the seed (Luke 8:11) of God’s kingdom. Unfortunately, most of their names are lost to us though not a single one is missing from God’s holy book of life. The subject of this biography, Joseph S. Warlick, was one of those shining stars in God’s light that we unfortunately do not know a great deal about. We have his books and debates but very little of his story. Of what that is positively known will be told here. In the words of an early biographer, “Warlick produced as many writings as David Lipscomb, preached as much as Theophilus B.
Larimore, James Harding or as N.B. Hardeman and debated more than all of them together.” In those days debating was seen as a way to eliminate error and to arrive at the truth. In those days, before the curse of radio and television, two things were very popular. The first was reading-especially reading of the Scriptures and the second was attending religious debates. These were exceedingly popular, and in those days, it is not unheard of to have the members of entire communities attend a debate lasting several nights. Much discussion was carried on during the entire debate and if the debaters were popular ones, it could continue on for several weeks after the debate ended. Our subject was one of those “popular” debaters. Quite often he would be called from wherever he was laboring to a community in another, town, county or even state to carry the battle on for
whichever side it was that called upon him. From here let us hear what is known of the life of this grand chess master of the debate. Of Joe’s birth, nothing is known except that he was born twelve miles from St. Louis, Missouri on November 1, 1866. His father was Newton Stanford Warlick and his mother was Mary Ann Stafford. Newton moved to be near relatives in St. Louis area during the war. They were there because Union Guerillas had burned the family home. He was constantly in school until he was grown. His parents, though poor, gave him every advantage they could, and his brothers and sisters cheerfully worked on the farm that he might prosecute his studies. The reason he received this tremendous gift was that the members of his family early saw his brilliance and sought to give him the highest possible chance to succeed. His childhood was normal. As was common among most
children of that day, they would plat “church” quite often. No
wonder that Joe was always the preacher during these games. At one time he was forced to hand out a rebuke for calling his brother a Campbellite. On one occasion his brothers and sisters snuck up on Joe while he was resting from plowing. They heard him speaking to himself and made great light of the situation.
Warlick answered their amusement with a hail of mud clods. Joe’s first sermon was preached under a tree near to Seymour, Texas, in 1886. He held special affection to the spot and returned on several occasions. He was ordained to the work of the ministry by the church at Seymour on September 4, 1886. The elders which ordained him were D.F. Goss and A.G. Farthing and they signed his certificate. Joe reflected on that event in 1919 when he said: “It was on the first Lord’s day of July of that year and happened to be on July 4th. The preaching was under a bunch of Hackleberry trees, under an arbor which I helped to build. My parents lived here at that time, and they, naturally, were deeply
interested in my first effort…My father insisted for several days before that I prepare some notes of what I expected to say, and have them at hand. When I was ready to start the appointment, which was only a few hundred yards from where we lived, I
threw my notes upon the “Fire Board,” as we called it and went
on without them. I can see, from where I sit, as I write, the home of Bro. Clode
Chilton, the path down which I came from my father’s home to
the arbor where I met a large audience for this country at the time…
Next week while I am here, I shall have my picture, standing on the spot where I stood that day. The spot seems to be a sacred
one to me, for I then made a decision which has shaped my life’s
work, and I do not regret the decision nor the course I have travelled since.” (Gospel Age 4, November 1919) Warlick began his preaching in what we call “The Wild West” which was totally different from the east. Attitudes were
entirely different there. In the west, preachers had to have an entirely different attitude than their urban brethren. Its preachers were required to be men of sinew which would give them the strength to preach the gospel and establish congregations of believers. The challenges in the tough new land of Oklahoma, which had previously been known as “Indian Territory.” It was a land of buckskin and blankets were when the classic cowboy genre was born. After the war, Texas had the hardest time of most of the pro- Confederate states. Reconstruction policies were extra harsh on Texas and there was much suffering. Hardship was harsh but the saints bore them with incredible tolerance. Alongside of the reconstruction hardships the churches were preyed upon by the digressive element which was putting the organ and society issues actively into any church that they could. Faithful gospel preachers besides Warlick were Carroll Kendrick and Jefferson Davis Tant to name a few. They bore the heat of battle and
carried it on to save as many as possible. They should be remembered for what they did. One of the preachers that had the greatest influence in the life of Joe Warlick was a gentleman named William Pugh Richardson who was born in Arkansas on September 4, 1844.
His family moved to Texas the following year. He was baptized into Christ by Carroll Kendrick. Kendrick had been baptized by Barton W. Stone into Christ. And so the chain continues on…. Richardson was lethal in debate. That is where he made the greatest impression on Warlick. It was about this time when Richardson took two young preachers under his wing. The first was Warlick and the second was a young preacher by the name of Charles Ready Nichol. They referred to Richardson by the name of “Uncle Billy.” He used the two young proteges in gospel meetings and basically taught them how to go about the business of reaching the lost. After the sermon Richardson would discuss the high and low parts of each lesson and thereby honed two
young sharp knives for work in the Lord’s fields. In Uncle Billy’s
home during the winter months much was discussed and the two young proteges were trained by the old veteran. Uncle Billy would take the side of error and challenge them to deal with him.
He would often visit at the Warlick and Nichol homes for weeks.
This was done all in the name of training the young men. He was an avid fisherman so school would sometimes be spent in a boat or on the shoreline. Warlick and Nichol became best of friends and would work together in the early days although Warlick was ten years Nichol’s senior. Once, when Nichol was twenty-two years of age he debated a man named Dr. Payne. Richardson had tutored Charlie for a month prior to the meeting and received a great return in victory. Warlick had always held his forebearers in high esteem so that in the first decade of the twentieth century, he was shocked to see the older preachers retired and young school-taught
preachers put them aside and take over. This caused him great pain. He said: “Brethren, do not neglect the older preachers. We have some men in Texas who are worthy of the confidence and support of the churches, and they should have it. Never get the idea that the old brethren who have given their lives for the cause should be laid on a shelf. They are very useful to the cause and should be allowed to work when and where they can do good and they should be supported as fully by the churches as the younger brethren who may perhaps never be able to do the good the older ones have done already. Take care of the old veterans of the cause and be certain to make the last days the most pleasant days of their lives. (Gospel Guide 4) On September 18, 1889 Joe Warlick was joined in marriage to Florence Campbell near to Fort Worth. To this union four children were added: Homer Elvy, Ronnie C, Byron (who died in infancy), and Florence. After residing in Whitt, it was announced that they were to be relocating to Joshua, Texas.
Unfortunately, Florence (Warlick’s wife) died in 1896 leaving him in charge of a passel of children. He was remarried to Lucie Dabney in 1901. From the start of his professional career, Joe Warlick enjoyed one thing above others and that was debating. It was the way in which he rose to the high standard for which he was well known.
Requests for him to represent various different congregations came in his mail frequently. Some felt that he was above every controversialist since the apostolic age. The simplicity yet overwhelming complexity often made answering him nearly impossible. From the security inherent in his position, he was able to rain down quibbles upon his foes. After a short amount of time, it became ridiculous to even try to mount some wild and wooly response and all came to naught. This ridiculous trip quickly came to an and. The years of the 1890’s to the 00’s Joe very quickly became the master of situations and could call the shots as to his situation and dealt with all in an equal manner. Some were not always
easy to be in but he held enough reputation where he could be called upon.
Through “digression,” the young preachers in Texas were of the worst type and J.D. Tant was not afraid to call it what it was in fact, a digression, and he was wide open showing what it really was. The majority of congregations were swept away by the digressive teachings and promises made to the preachers who were naïve enough to buy the whole program. In March 1893, Warlick met Ballard of the Methodist church in discussion. It was held in Drop, Denton county, Texas. The debate held four propositions: 1) Sprinkling, pouring. 2) baptism is in order to remission of sins. 3) infant baptism 4) the establishment of the church on Pentecost. It ended with a great victory and reassured Warlick of his skill and promised a busy future for him. Back in Whitt, an annual protracted meeting was begun, in July, 1893. He also worked a camp meeting at Denton. He was so busy that I am sure he was a little concerned. The requests kept coming in faster than he could fill them. His popularity grew by leaps and bounds.
He published for some time the Gospel Guide, was the author of many books and tracts, which have had a wide circulation and have been endorsed and used by many preachers.
He has been instrumental in leading a large number
to the Christ, and “expects to meet many in the other world that have been taught the truth by him.” His love of souls and love of our great master kept Joe going over the long years of his life. Many were the miles that he trudged in his desire to reach the common man with the simple fact that our Lord was killed on our behalf and was raised so we might
have the hope of eternal life. Warlick knew this message well and told it anytime someone asked. He was a simple man’s evangelist. Not that he was simple, quite the opposite, but a very wise man who knew how to approach man in whatever condition he was in. * On Thursday, January 2, 1941 at his home, 911 West Tenth Street, Dallas, Texas, at 1 P.M., Joseph Sale Warlick departed this life. Brother Warlick had been in ill-health since December 23, 1939; and although he had recovered to some extent, yet those who were closest to him knew that his days were numbered. He was survived by a daughter (Mrs. H. R. Orr, Denver, Col.), two sons (Homer and B. C. Warlick, Dallas), two sisters (Mrs. Matt Albert, Elk City, Okla., and Mrs. Addie Barnhart, Houston, Texas), and one brother (Dennis Warlick, Elk City, Okla.).
Funeral services were conducted Sunday, January 5, in the auditorium of the Sunset Church, at 2 P.M.
The building was packed with friends who came to pay a last tribute of respect to this old soldier of the cross. Leroy Garrett, a young preacher, read the Scripture; Price Billingsley, Fort Worth, Texas, prayed; Claude Kele, minister of the Hamilton- Lagow Church, where Brother Warlick held his membership, spoke about the life of the deceased; and J. L. Hines, minister of the Sunset Church,
spoke upon the subject, “One Thing I Do,” taken from Phil. 3:1.” A male sextette sang. Two of the songs were composed by Brother Warlick.
He was buried in the Oak Cliff Cemetery on Monday
morning at 10 o’clock. The following preachers were
pallbearers: Frank Smith, Trinity Heights Church; Eugene S. Smith, evangelist; Horace Teddlie, Edgefield Church; Tillit S. Teddlie, Western Heights Church; Coleman Overby, Sears-Summit Church; and Joe Malone, Peak-Eastside Church.
The following is one of the songs used, which was composed by Brother Warlick: The time has come when we must part, We hope to meet again, To sing our songs of joy and praise, While we on earth remain.
But if no more while here we meet, Let each resolve in heart That he to that bright home shall come, Where we shall never part.
‘Tis there we’ll meet with friends so dear Who’ve passed beyond the sea; We’ll safely dwell with Christ, our Lord,
And with him ever be.
For evermore we’ll sing his praise
On that bright, happy shore, In one united voice of song, And part no never more.
Among his last words were: “I am willing to go before the Judge of all the earth and answer for
every act of every minute of my life.”
Joe Sale Warlick was indeed a great servant of the Lord. He held gospel meeting in almost all the states in the union and Canada. He engaged in 399 debates. He baptized thousands. He was always ready to help if there were problems. May the Lord bless the memory of this great man. For the last five years I have talked to him intimately. I found him to be kind, generous, merciful, but very positive about the things which he conceived to be the truth. He never spoke harshly to me about any of his enemies.
He was one of my very best friends. He helped me much in my work, and in my fight against ungodliness in the city of Dallas he planted himself by my side.
To my mind there has not been a greater defender of
the truth since A. Campbell’s day. May God’s richest
blessings be upon the family. (Selection from Gospel Broadcast, as appearing in the Gospel Advocate Vol. 83, No. 3, January 16, 1941, p. 61) Joe S. Warlick was, undoubtedly, one of the most unusual of our preachers in the 20th Century. He was truly a man of the divine book and a champion of the Restoration. (* Part of outline taken from The Gospel Preceptor 8/31/18)