How They Became Convinced
By Editor
[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.] TWENTY-ONE years ago the message of the Third Angel found me in Ontario, Canada, through the printed page. A year later, Elder T. M. Steward came and presented the truth in our neighborhood, and we were more fully instructed in the way of the Lord. My father, who was a great reader, had sent to New York for two books on the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, but these gave him no light. It was then that a family living near by, who we knew were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, began to offer us reading matter containing the present truth. We were young people going to the public school, and they would give me a tract or a book on the prophecies, and I would take them something my father had been reading. After nine months' investigation, my father decided that he had found the truth. This he stated to the family as we were all present on Christmas day. Accordingly he observed the next Sabbath—the first of the new year. I observed the first Sabbath in the following September, and have never seen a moment when I doubted the correctness of the decision then made. The truth is brighter and more assuring to-day. E. J. EVANS. WHILE a member of the M. E. Church at Clayville, N. Y., in 1875, I studied the Bible with a friend who was a First-day Adventist, and finally became convinced that eternal life was not inherent in man, but could be obtained only through faith in Christ. Hearing that there was an Adventist camp-meeting at Rome, and not knowing that it was a Seventh-day Adventist meeting, we decided to attend for one Sunday. We arrived there Saturday night, and as we entered the tented ground we saw a large sign over the archway which read, "Buy the truth, and sell it not." We soon found that it was a Sabbath-keeping camp, and in a short time we heard enough to set us to thinking. We remained until after the last service Sunday, and then invested what money we had in tracts. After nine o'clock we walked to Utica, eighteen miles, saving just money enough to ride to Clayville, arriving just in time to go to work. Then we went to studying the Bible as we never had before, and became fully convinced that the Sabbath of the commandment was binding on Christians even in the nineteenth century. We both left all and went out, as did Abraham of old, not knowing where. But God led us, bless His dear name, and we would not for anything part with the truth that was impressed upon us in that tented grove in 1875. We expect to keep the Sabbath even in the new earth. Isa. 66:22, 23. GEORGE E. LOOMIS. In childhood I was taught that Christ changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. When about thirteen years of age the question came up in Sunday-school, and I attempted to answer by saying that Christ had made the change. But I was met by a challenge from a boy about my own age to show where the Scriptures said so. I promised to do so the next Sunday, and all through the week I searched concordances, indexes, and commentaries for the elusive text. But before the next Sunday I had given up in despair, and decided not to mention the matter at all unless it was brought up by some one else; so the matter was dropped. Some time before this a canvasser had sold my father a number of Adventist books and tracts, among which were "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation," "Marvel of Nations," "History of the Sabbath," and "Ministration of Angels." I began to read the first-mentioned book and was not long in becoming convinced that the seventh day was and still is the Sabbath of the Lord. When I stated my convictions to my parents, they opposed the "new doctrine" very much, but the more they opposed, the more I became convinced. About four years later another canvasser sold my father a copy of "Bible Readings." Shortly after the book was delivered, my widowed sister began to study it, and in a few weeks she began to keep the Sabbath. Then mother began to keep it, and in a short time Brother R. W. Parmele came and preached the same truth to us. All the family except father and one brother, accepted and began keeping the truth. About five months later father united with us in keeping all of the commandments. That was in January, 1897, and since then the truth has grown brighter, and we know it will until the perfect day. E. L. MAXWELL.