[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.]
I.
When I was a boy about six or seven years of age, my father and mother drove out a short distance from our home on a certain Sunday, and, on passing a blacksmith shop, they heard the ringing of the blacksmith’s anvil. This seemed very strange, especially to my mother who was reared to keep Sunday for the Sabbath. I well remember, when father and mother returned home, hearing them talking of the matter of the blacksmith working in his shop on Sunday. Mother said she had inquired of some one in that neighborhood why the blacksmith worked on Sunday, and she was told that he observed Saturday for the Sabbath, and worked upon Sunday. Mother said, “And I believe that is right, because the Bible says, ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath,’ and Saturday is the seventh day of the week.” The impression made upon my young mind at that time never left me, and prepared the way for me to accept the true Sabbath and the whole message of truth when I heard it presented by Elders J. H. Waggoner and C. W. Stone in the city of Springfield, Ohio, about twenty-five years ago. I praise the Lord for that early impression, and for thus preparing my heart to accept the truth when I heard it presented by His faithful servants. They are both now sleeping in the tomb; but it has been my blessed privilege, for more than twenty years, to help in proclaiming to the world this precious message.
G. W. ANGLEBARGER.
Denver, Colo.
II.
When about seven years old, as I began to read the Bible, I discovered that it required the observance of the seventh day of the week; this, with the testimony of the table of time in the old family Bible, showing that Saturday was the seventh day, or Sabbath, awakened a query in my mind, and I went to my mother with the question, “Why are we keeping the first day of the week?” The reply was, “O! the Sabbath has been changed.” This quieted my mind; but not long after this, in 1859, Elder Joseph Bates held a three weeks’ meeting in our schoolhouse, and the result was that just one woman embraced the Third Angel’s Message, and that woman was my mother. I was glad, with her, to observe the Sabbath of the Lord. The visits of the messengers were not very frequent in those days, and it was seven years before I again saw a Seventh-day Adventist minister. But for seven years a good sister paid for the Review and Herald for my mother, till I was large enough to earn some money with which to do missionary work; and it was through reading an article in the Review that I was quickened to spiritual life, and thus turned from the road to ruin.
Pullman, Wash.
F. D. STARR.
III.
Eighteen years ago I knew almost nothing of the teachings of the Bible. My father’s family made no profession of religion; and tho a Bible was in the house it was seldom read. So when a minister came to our neighborhood and taught the things of God, we were prepared to hear the truth with no prepossessions to hinder our view.
If it should be asked what line of reasoning or what scripture led to my accepting the Sabbath truth, I could only say that it was the simple language of the Fourth Commandment. Tho we had never professed religion in any way, yet we were always taught sacredly to regard the Ten Commandments; and when the Spirit of God awakened conviction in our hearts, the binding claims of this holy code of precepts could not be ignored. We recognized our duty, and cheerfully took our stand with those who are walking in the way that leads to the city of God. The pathway has grown brighter from then till now; and tho the enemy opposes the onward march of the little flock who keep the commandments (Rev. 14:12; 12:17), yet truth shines the brighter for the conflict; and soon the righteous nation who have kept the truth will enter through the gates to the eternal city. F. M. BURG.
