The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

J. N. Andrews Begins Preaching

About this time J. N. Andrews, who resided in Paris, Maine, began his public labors as a minister of the gospel and a writer on religious topics. In the Review for May, 1851, he had an article occupying over five pages on the subject of the three messages. In this he applied the prophecy of the two-horned beast of Revelation 13 to the United States, taking the position, on the strength of the prophecy alone, that the enforcement of Sunday as the Sabbath would be the point on which a union of church and state would finally be founded in this nation. His argument rested wholly upon the prophecy, as no movement at that time pointed very strongly in that direction, the strongest expression that could be found favoring it being a statement from Dr. Durbin, taken from the Christian Advocate and Journal, which said:— GSAM 284.2

“When Christianity becomes the moral and spiritual life of the state, the state is bound, through her magistrates, to prevent the open violation of the holy Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation.” GSAM 284.3