into the water, and got the wagon and Mr. Stiles to shore as best I could. Then I had to race after the oxen; for they were going it over the prairie with the front wheels of the wagon like all possessed. Such were some of the experiences of the early pioneers in this new country.

CHANGE OF RELIGIOUS VIEWS.

I found a class of people in father's neighborhood who observed the seventh day as the Sabbath. They were very zealous in spreading abroad a knowledge of their peculiar views. They supplied me with tracts, pamphlets, and books teaching what they called "present truth;" that is, the truth that is especially adapted for the times in which we live. Although I had no idea of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, yet I found their arguments very hard to meet. I could find nothing in the New Testament to show that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week.

I found that the New Testament mentions the first day of the week just eight times, and not once is it called the Sabbath or Lord's day, neither is any sacred title applied to it whatever. Search as I would, I could not find that either Christ or his apostles observed it as a sacred day in a single instance. This seemed to me unaccountable, if the first day of the week had really become the Sabbath and it was a sin against God not to observe it as such. Although I could by no means explain the silence of the New Testament in regard to the change of the Sabbath. I tried to console myself with the thought that a great many wise and good men keep Sunday, and if we only keep one day in seven, it will do well enough. This was not very satisfactory, but it helped to ease my conscience while violating one of God's commandments.

DURING THE SUMMER

I worked a while for a man by the name of Shumacher. He was a zealous Catholic, and labored hard to convert me to the Catholic faith. We used to sit up very late talking upon points of doctrine. One evening he asked me, "How could the apostles remit sins unless they knew what sins to remit? and how could they know unless the sins were confessed to them?"