Discovering the Sabbath and Commandments
By P. H. Pennoyer
DEAR BRO. WHITE :—I have great reason to praise the Lord for the light that has shone upon my pathway since I embraced the third angel's message.—What joy I received when I understood what the will of the Lord was concerning me. O how I felt when I saw I had never kept the Sabbath of the Lord. I said, Lord what must I do in order to be saved. I thought I was willing to be called a fool for the sake of Christ; but when I opened my Bible, the first place that met my eye, was, "if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." I thought I had kept God's commands as well as I knew how, and as far as I could see, was trying to live out the Bible; although our Minister said there were books in the Bible that eternity must unlock, and I did not know but it was so; for there were some places that I could not understand. When Bro. Rhodes was trying to explain some places, I could see, and my heart began to give place for the truth; and the tears began to flow. All my life came up before me; and in looking over my past life I could not see any good that I had ever done; and I cried unto the Lord to show me the way; and he showed the commandments. I then could see how much man-made religion I had had. The Lord has blessed me a great many times in days and years that are past, but never as he has in this truth. O how it did search me. I could say with the poet: "I see the fiery furnace, and feel its cleansing flames,
The fruit of it is holy, the gold will still remain."
I cannot express my feelings in any better way than these lines. They tell all my feelings, past and present, when I look into the law of the Lord and see what we must be to inherit eternal life. My whole family are striving to keep God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, that we may not be found wanting, but waiting, in the day of his coming. I rejoice and look forward to the time when the redeemed shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy. May God help us, brethren and sisters, to prove faithful until we obtain the crown. Yours in hope of eternal life. P. H. PENNOYER.
Morley, N. Y., Aug., 1853.