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The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4 - Contents
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    X. Andrews-First Missionary; Author of Sabbath History

    JOHN NEVINS ANDREWS (1829-1883) was born in Poland, Maine, and came of Methodist background. In his childhood he went with his parents to Paris, Maine. In his youth he became deeply interested in the Millerite movement, and was but seventeen when he accepted the seventh day as the Sabbath. Well-trained and scholarly, he planned on the law, his uncle being a member of Congress. John seemed likely to rise in political circles, for which he was well trained. But the Andrews family accepted the first, second, and third angels’ messages progressively, and John’s political ambitions gave way to that of unstinted service in the advent ministry. He was among the earliest to get his bearings, after the Disappointment, by discovering the relation of the first and second messages to a third which was to follow, and embracing the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.PFF4 961.1

    Up in Paris, Maine, the large Edward Andrews home gave shelter to the Stowell family, who had sold their farm when they were expecting the Lord to come. And Marian, Stowell’s fifteen-year-old daughter, had read the tract reprint of Preble’s article in the Hope of Israel. As a result she and her brother observed the next Sabbath. She then gave the tract to seventeen-year-old John Nevins Andrews, and he was likewise persuaded, and promised to follow their example. The parents of both then read it. And as a result both families observed the next Sabbath, meeting in one room of the home. Soon there were several families in this and adjoining towns observing the Sabbath. The first of these was the Cyprian Stevens family, whose two daughters later became Mrs. J. N. Andrews and Mrs. Uriah Smith. 33Spalding, Captains, pp. 112, 113. The Sabbath was now steadily gathering momentum.PFF4 961.2

    Andrews was the youngest of the trio of pioneer Sabbatarian leaders-Bates, White, and Andrews-to come through the 1844 experience. (Illustration on p. 1050.) He was the studious, mild, Melanchthon type, just as James White was the vigorous, driving, Luther type. Tall, thin, and bespectacled, he had a quiet unassuming way, and was always cheerful and helpful. But there was nothing soft or yielding about him when he felt that truth was at stake. Then he was courageously bold, for he was an intense lover of truth. “I would exchange a thousand errors for one truth,” he insisted. 34Ibid., p. 190. And that was the general attitude.PFF4 962.1

    While the Whites traveled and preached, Andrews devoted his talents chiefly to the writing of solid substantial articles, joining the publishing committee on the Advent Review in 1850. He was a logical reasoner and a dauntless advocate of the advent faith. In 1850 he began writing on the sanctuary, the United States in prophecy, and the three messages. He was particularly zealous in behalf of the Sabbath, and stood stanchly against the no-law teaching that was then at flood tide. In this he was bold and determined. He took up the cudgels with such men as O. R. L. Crosier, who had now turned against the faith he had once championed. But Andrews’ greatest contribution, on which he had spent years of study and research, was unquestionably the scholarly History of the Sabbath and of the First Day of the Week—presenting the Scriptural and historical evidence on these paralleling institutions. And in all his emphasis he put the Bible forward as supreme: “Reader, we entreat you to prize your Bible. It contains all the will of God, and will make you wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” 35J. N. Andrews, “Things to Be Considered,” Review and Herald, Jan. 31, 1854, p. 10.PFF4 962.2

    The Sabbath now spread in ever-widening circles.PFF4 962.3

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