A Testimony of Faith and Hope
By M. Paul
BRO. WHITE: I believe that the signs of the times fully indicate that the coming of Christ draweth nigh. Men's hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth. O that we could but realize, as we should, the solemn time in which we are living. When we look around upon the world, and behold the strife and commotion among the nations, we cannot fail to see that the final crisis of this world's drama is just before us. And how it becomes us to be up and doing, to be found with oil in our vessels, with our lamps, so that when our Lord returns from the wedding, we may meet him with joy, and say, Lo this is our God, we have waited for him. This is my prayer, that we may be found of that happy number. One year ago last fall Brn. J. N. Andrews and Allen came to Medford with the tent. I praise the Lord that they were directed this way. It was under Bro. Andrews's preaching that I decided to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. I was led to see that Sunday was not the true Sabbath. I searched the Bible and could not find one passage in it to sustain Sunday keeping. Christ kept the seventh day; so did his disciples before and after his resurrection, according to the commandment. I commenced keeping the seventh day, and was greatly blessed in so doing. The doctrine of the soon coming of Christ was not very new to me, for my mind had been dwelling on that for some time, as I had been watching the signs of the times. But the sleep of the dead until the resurrection, and the final destruction of the wicked, was something new to me. However, as I heard the Scriptures explained, and searched them myself, I found that they could be reconciled so, better than in any other way. I was partially a believer in Spiritualism, but when led to see that the dead know not anything, of course I gave that up. I praise the Lord that I was led to see the delusion of it before it was too late. A Seventh-Day Adventist church was soon after organized in Deerfield, and feeling convinced that they were the true people of God, I withdrew from the Methodist church, of which I had been a member for some twenty years, and joined them. I still feel that I was in the way of duty, although it has brought me much opposition and persecution from worldly-minded professors. But Jesus has said, "The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also;" and may we not be encouraged; for some kept his saying, and followed him, and may not we, even the weakest of us, when the last message of mercy is being proclaimed to a dying world, be the means of persuading some to keep his sayings and to follow him? I am still striving to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. My desire is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the holy word, and be able to stand through the perils of these last days, and be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. Yours, striving to overcome. M. PAUL.