The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

I. Andrews-Author of Able “History of the Sabbath”

JOHN NEVINS ANDREWS (1829-1883), first foreign missionary of the Seventh-day Adventists, was born in Poland, Maine. With his parents he passed through the Disappointment of 1844, and was one of the first in that region to get his bearings. He was but a lad of seventeen when a copy of the Preble Sabbath tract was placed in his hands by Marian Stowell, a fifteen-year-old girl acquaintance. And he accepted its teachings almost immediately—almost as soon as did the veteran Joseph Bates in Massachusetts. There were few Sabbathkeepers at the time, and Andrews became its leading advocate. His uncle was in politics and had become a member of Congress. Under his encouragement John had planned on studying law and entering politics. But instead, in 1850 he began to preach and to write. In 1851 he was on the publishing committee of the Review and Herald, and for a time (in 1869 and 1870) was editor. PFF4 1093.2

Picture 1: DISTINGUISHED PIONEERS IN NEW EXPOSITION OF Revelation 13 These noted Clergymen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries all held the second beast of 13:11-18 to symbolize protestantism, and thus involving the united states. (Left) Dr. Thomas Goodwin (1680) of Britain, President of Magdalen college, Oxford, and vice chancellor of oxford university; (Center) Isaac Backus (1786) of massachusetts, baptist Historian and champion of religious liberty; and (right) Judge John Bacon (1799), Chief Justice of massachusetts, Who added the thought that the two horns symbolize civil and religious liberty

Quiet and unassuming, but studious and a clear-cut reasoner, he soon grew in mental stature. One of his early expressions was, “I would exchange a thousand errors for one truth.” With him this was a deep conviction. His first article in the Review and Herald was entitled “Thoughts on the Sabbath,” and was published in December, 1850. His first major article on prophecy, likewise in the Review, was dated May 19, 1851, and was on the three messages, the two-horned beast of Revelation 13, and the United States in prophecy. Ever in the forefront of activity he was author of a number of works, his most notable contribution being the scholarly History of the Sabbath and of the First Day of the Week, which is still standard in its field. PFF4 1094.1

Picture 2: OFF FOR EUROPE
INTERPRETATION:
John Nevins Andrews carried the expanding message overseas, Sailing for Europe in 1874 with his two children
Page 1095

In 1867 and 1868 Andrews became third president of the but recently organized General Conference-elected when only 38. And, as the first Seventh-day Adventist foreign missionary, he sailed for Europe with his two children on September 15, 1874. There he laid the foundation for a substantial evangelistic and publishing work in Europe.². PFF4 1095.1