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COULDN'T PROVE IT

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 16.

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COULDN'T PROVE IT.

A NEW and enthusiastic recruit to the ranks of Sabbath keepers, writing from Onondaga Co., N. Y., thus expresses his joy over the marvelous light of present truth:—
“It is with inexpressible pleasure that I now open correspondence with you. The object of my present epistle is to tell you, so far as words are able to express it, of the wonderful change that has taken place in my heart. For the past eight years I have been a strong, unflinching defender of the orthodox belief in the immortality of the soul and keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, but I never fully believed in the eternal misery of the wicked in hell-fire and brimstone. Bro. Horace Bowen, who is no doubt known to you, labored with me incessantly, when opportunity offered, and always referred me to the Scriptures. Last November I began studying for the ministry, but when I came to the question in the M. E. Discipline, ‘How can you prove that the wicked will not be annihilated?’ I said to myself, ‘I cannot prove it.’ The seed that Bro. Bowen had sown was not wasted on stony or thorny ground, and the more I investigated the word, the more fully convinced was I of my error.”
“The first of March I spent the evening with Bro. and Sr. Bowen, and the conviction sank still deeper into my heart. I agreed to come and stay over night with him on the evening of the 2d of April. According to promise I came, and spent the evening in reading Eld. Canright's essay on Platonic immortal-soul theories. For the first time I saw what a base and superstitious error I had inculcated and believed all my life. I closed my eyes upon it, and turned to the law and the testimony. Last evening, as we knelt around the family altar, the light of divine truth shone wonderfully about us.”
“Only those who have passed through like changes know how marvelous is the light. I write to tell you these things because I cannot keep still. My friends are already scoffing at me, but I care not. I fear the wrath of an offended God more than that of mortal man.”
“GEORGE F. WOOD.”