How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] My people were Baptists; and, while quite young, I used to congratulate myself that we had the truth on the subject of baptism; for from childhood I was taught to believe the Bible as the Word of God. When I was about fourteen years of age, some Adventist ministers pitched their tent near our home in Wisconsin. I attended the meetings as often as possible, and became deeply interested. When the Sabbath question was reached, the plain words of the Fourth Commandment, the teachings and example of Jesus, and the utter lack of authority for Sunday observance, fully convinced me that the seventh day is still the Sabbath of the Lord. But my new-found convictions soon received quite a shock. A minister in the neighborhood announced to speak on the Sabbath question. The argument that appealed most forcibly to me was based upon the Greek of Matt. 28:1, which was translated, “In the end of the [Jewish] Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [Christian] Sabbath,” etc. Two other ministers present, who were also Greek scholars (?), confirmed this translation. I was much perplexed. But the next evening the Adventist minister exposed the deception, and made the matter so plain that even a boy of fourteen could understand; while the learned D.D., with his Greek New Testament, could not gainsay the truth. Since that evening I have never had a doubt concerning this important question; but the truth has become more clear and convincing as I have studied its various phases. For several years I did not live out my convictions, for I had not yet given my heart to the Lord. But at the age of nineteen I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. It was plain to me that I could not hope to earn salvation by keeping His law. It was also plain that I could not be saved in sin. So I accepted His forgiveness for my past Sabbath-breaking and all my other sins; then, in love to Him who died for me, I began to obey Him by keeping His Sabbath. John 14:15. F. W. FIELD.