[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.]
XIV.
My parents were good, old-fashioned Methodists, zealous for all the light and truth they had, and carefully instructed their children to read the Bible, love God, and believe in His Son Jesus. With their family they regularly attended Sunday-school and services at the little village church. There, as at home, we were admonished, by both pastor and teacher, to sacredly observe the Ten Commandments, which God Himself had spoken from Sinai and written with His own finger on two tables of stone. Of course, like many good people yet to-day, we never once thought about the Sabbath, and altho the fourth precept positively states that, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” yet we supposed we were keeping it even tho observing the first day or Sunday. How short-sighted it seems to me now we were then!
At the age of ten years, just before my father died, a minister who believed in and observed the commandments of God, including the seventh-day Sabbath, began Gospel meetings near our home under a large tent. We children were allowed to attend these meetings, and then I heard for the first time an exposition of the holy Sabbath in its fulness; and tho young I was deeply convinced of my duty toward God, as I listened to the Word explained as I had never heard it before. This was particularly true respecting the law of God, which I had been taught to reverence and obey. Those impressions were of the genuine type, born of the Spirit of God, and they have remained with me from then until now; they have grown into living principles, and to-day are a part of my very life and being. Most certainly, then, it was the preaching of the law and its immutability and binding obligation upon all who would receive Christ, that led me into the glorious light of the holy Sabbath—the day ordained and blessed of God in Eden (Gen. 2: 2, 3), the fourth precept of the moral law (Ex. 20: 8-11), the day Christ and the apostles not only reverenced and observed but by precept and example also declared (See Luke 4: 16; Matt. 24: 24; Luke 23: 56; Acts 13: 42, 44; Acts 17: 2; Heb. 4: 4-11), and the day upon which all flesh will come to worship before God in the earth made new (Isa. 66: 22, 23). Blessed law! Blessed Sabbath day! S. G. HUNTINGTON.
Gall, O.
XV.
THIRTY-TWO years ago, at the age of twenty-two, it was my privilege to attend, through mere curiosity, a meeting, held in a country schoolhouse in western Ohio by I. D. Van Horn, a Seventh-day Adventist minister.
On entering the schoolhouse I saw a chart with strange pictures printed on it, that I had never before seen. It made such an impression on my mind that I can look back thirty-two years and see its very location on the wall, as it were but yesterday. When the minister spent one hour in explaining the symbols I felt my first strong desire to study the Bible. The symbol represented in the second chapter of Daniel was more impressive than all others. It created a desire for more knowledge both in profane and ecclesiastical history. And after thirty-two years’ experience, twenty-five of which have been spent in the ministry, I can say that that chapter has never lost its freshness, and I am always glad when it falls to my lot to present it to others. This desire created in my mind has caused me to go on in the investigation of God’s truth to the present day.
I can say at this time I am living in a strong hope of a soon coming Saviour, and a bright prospect of a crown of glory that fades not away. G. G. RUPERT.
Keene, Texas.
XVI.
In my early childhood I had little or no religious instruction. My parents were not Christians, and we lived most of the time on the frontier. When about twenty years of age I became convicted of sin, and, after a struggle, yielded myself to the claims of God. I united with one of the popular churches, but later I became discouraged because I knew so little of the truth, and because of the lack of harmony among brethren. After counseling with others, I determined to seek the Lord anew, and, in doing so, I promised the Lord that, if He would teach me His truth by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, I would, with His aid, walk in all the light He would show. A short time later, I went to visit some old friends, and they began to give me papers and tracts to read, but I had but little interest to read them, until the lady gave me “Thoughts on Revelation,” which I read three times through before I could be satisfied. Then I said, “It is the truth,” and felt I must obey. My relatives and church friends were all opposed, and I tried to get help and counsel from my pastor and others, but to no avail. The command of God in Ex. 20: 8-11 kept ringing in my ears, and I could get no peace of mind, until one Sabbath morning in the little Sabbath-school I told the brethren I had determined, with God’s help, to keep the Sabbath, let come what would. As I sat down, the dear sister who had loaned me the book and papers, handed me her open Bible, pointing to Isa. 58: 13, 14. This was a great comfort and help to me. And altho twenty years have come and gone since then, those verses, with the commandment, have stood out in my mind like letters of gold. I call them my verses, and have often given them to others, and now give them to the public, trusting that some tempest-tossed soul may find in them the same help that I have found. J. W. BOYNTON.
