Ellen G. White in Europe 1885-1887

Foundations Deep and Solid

The needs of the field were staggering, and Ellen White saw clearly that only a beginning had been made. She was eager that the foundation be laid deep and solid. In 1879, while still in America, she wrote: EGWE 37.2

“I was shown in vision many things connected with the cause of God. The state of things in the church ... and the work of God in Europe and England, ... and in other new fields, was presented before me. There is the greatest need of the work in new fields starting right, bearing the impress of the divine. Many in these new fields will be in danger of accepting the truth or assenting to it, who have not a genuine conversion of heart. When tested by storm and tempest, it will be found that their house is not built upon a rock but upon sliding sand. Practical godliness must be possessed by the minister and developed in his daily life and character. His discourses should not be exclusively theoretical.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:321. EGWE 37.3

Such counsels explain the thorough work J. N. Loughborough did for his converts and S. N. Haskell's emphasis on a strong literature ministry. For years both men had been closely associated with Ellen White in labor. They highly valued her counsel. EGWE 37.4

But returning now to Drew, in whose home she was staying. He was an Englishman, like Ings, and was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1835. As a young man he had gone to sea and spent fifteen years as a sailor. Once, while in the port of San Francisco, he heard J. N. Loughborough preach and had accepted the Advent message. Then he returned to England in 1882 and engaged in his “ship missionary work,” distributing free literature and selling books and magazines to passengers and crews in port cities. EGWE 39.1

Drew had worked first in Hull, and then in Liverpool. He was to continue to labor in Britain for the rest of his life. William O'Neil, who also met the White party at the boat, was with Drew in Liverpool to gain experience for work he planned to do later in London. The two men visited hundreds of ships along the twelve miles of docks in Liverpool and Birkenhead. In the first quarter of 1884 Drew visited 680 ships. He is credit with having converted the Finnish sea captain A. F. Lundquist, who introduced the Advent message to Finland. EGWE 39.2