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Called By God
After reading it, Dr. Ellison condemned Seventh-day Adventists for teaching that the
world would end in 1844. He spent quite a while criticizing William Miller’s teachings
and ridiculing the Adventists. He sat down, sure that his material about Miller had
discredited the Seventh-day Adventists.
Calmly Minnie Sype, with her regal bearing, acknowledged that William Miller, while
a good man, had like most people made some mistakes. She then went on to point out
that when Dr. Ellison condemned William Miller, he was speaking about a member of
his own denomination, for William Miller was a Baptist, not a Seventh-day Adventist;
the Seventh-day Adventists had not become a church nor started their work in 1844.
This information disappointed the Baptist minister while affording some amusement to
the listeners.
After several nights, the debaters got to the topic, “The Origin, History, and Destiny of
Satan.” The Baptist speaker refused to go further, and so the debate closed. He announced,
however, that he would continue speaking separately against the Adventist teachings
concerning the Sabbath and the immortality of the soul.
Not being able to rent the Baptists’ tent to answer their presentations, Minnie Sype
announced that she would reserve the local schoolhouse for Sunday evening to review
Dr. Ellison’s assertions. That summer evening in 1902 the school house in Putnam,
Oklahoma Territory, was jammed with people. They listened attentively to Pastor Sype as
she defended the teachings of her church against the accusation that they were heresy.
This confrontation was used by the Holy Spirit to further advance the work begun by
Mrs. Sype in Putnam. Several stood for the truth. Soon afterward the Baptists lost
interest and moved their tent elsewhere. (Minnie Syp*, “Putnam, O. T. [Oklahoma
Territory]”, Southwestern Union Record, September 8, 1902. *The spelling of the family name,
originally Syp , was changed to Sype when son Ross was in academy, at his request.)
The little company of believers at Putnam rejoiced in their newfound faith, and the
town people became more friendly, some admitting that the Adventist teachings were
correct. At the end of this taxing bout for truth, Minnie Sype was still buoyant in her
praise to the Lord for His holy Word and its power to prevail.
This gifted communicator of Bible truth did not knowingly set out in life to become a
Seventh-day Adventist evangelist. There are few clues from her early years as a shy farm
girl to foreshadow that ultimate call, aside from her persistent longing to know God.
When Elias and Mary Day welcomed their first child to the farm homestead near
Thayer, Iowa, on April 18, 1869, they named her Marinda. However, “Minnie” seemed
more appropriate for the timid, feminine little girl; and by that name she was called
throug hout her life. (Minnie Sype, Life Sketches and Experiences in Missionary Work
(Hutchinson, Minnesota: Seminary Press, 1916), 15.) Much of the biographical information in this book is based on the autobiography. The Andrews University Library has a copy.
The Review and Herald Publishing Association Library has a copy of the 1912 edition.
Because she was the first child of ten, and all the older children were girls, Minnie
became her father’s helper in the fields. She drove the team to harrow the ground, sat on

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