DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS:
By Ellen Morse
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS:
It is a little more than three years since I embraced the present truth. I joined the Methodists when quite young. I knew of no other denomination that I liked so well, but soon I was not fully satisfied that their doctrine was true; it seemed to me that I instinctively felt that it was not; but when I read such scriptures as Matt. xxiv, and the Revelation, I thought that there must be one right way, and only one, and the prayer of my heart was, Lord show me the right way. Soon by words said at different times, and not addressed to me, I was led to think of the Advent and Sabbath questions, and the saints' inheritance. I was satisfied of but one thing, and that was that the saints would inherit the earth made new. I read the Bible and tried to understand it, but I thought I must harmonize the Bible with doctrines that had been taught me. I was discouraged about finding the truth myself and prayed the Lord to guide me. I have thought it was an answer to this prayer that in Dec., 1864, I was employed to teach in a district where there were a half-dozen families of Seventh-day Adventists. I was to board around, and the first two weeks I boarded with Sabbath-keepers, at the end of which time, and on Christmas day, I resolved that come what would, the Lord helping me, I would, in the future, keep the Sabbath according to the commandment; and when I asked the Lord to bless me in this resolve, I felt that my prayer was more than answered. By the time I had finished my school I had embraced all the leading points in our faith, and I returned home to meet more opposition than I anticipated. My father took the matter very much to heart, and it seemed to me, that every infernal story that could be conjured up, was hurled at me and the people of my choice. By midsummer my health became very poor, and the days looked dark to me. Satan often tempted me to relinquish the Sabbath for my father's sake, but God in his mercy sustained me in this trial. During this time I seldom saw a Sabbath-keeper, but when I did it would cheer me for days. I submitted to my father's desire for me to take medicine, for I did not feel able to combat everything. In the early part of the winter I took the worst cold that I ever had. I then determined that I would no longer be made a drug shop. I treated my cold with hot and cold water, which cured it in a short time, and I had no more colds that winter. I lived out the health reform according to the best knowledge I had. In the spring I sent for the Review, and How to Live. I soon commenced to live on two meals a day, which were mostly made up of graham soft biscuit and fruit. I improved in strength and good feeling every day, and my father pronounced the reform in diet a good thing.283 In May I was baptized by Eld. Pierce. Since this time my trials have not been just what they were before, but I find there is no safety in sleeping on my post. Young believers, when Satan cannot frighten, he will try to entice you away. I am wearing the reform dress, and I cannot tell you, my sisters, how much I like it. I have been reading the testimony to the young Sabbath-keepers. It is solemn, and I mean to be up and doing. Steele Co., Minn., March 21, 1868.