ANOTHER PIONEER FALLEN.
By R. M. KILGORE
Elder R. J. Lawrence died at Graysville, Tenn., April 26, 1900, being 87 years, 2 months, and 4 days of age. He was born in Spafford, Onondaga County, N. Y. His parents were members of the First-day Adventist Church. In 1838 he was married to Miss Lucinda Thompson. In 1841 he united with the Baptist Church, and the next year he entered the ministry. During the winter of 1843–44 he heard three discourses on the second advent, by a layman of the Congregationalist Church, which caused him serious reflections. He was ordained in 1845, and labored for the Baptists till June, 1855. During these ten years, in the study of the Bible he became convinced of, and changed his views on, the atonement, the trinity,—as popularly taught,—the nature of man, and the Sabbath. He made haste, and delayed not, to keep the commandment, fully realizing that such a step would cause the loss of his pastorate, and that all his friends and relatives would forsake him; and it was so. But he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and rejoiced that he was worthy of the shame for Jesus’ sake. In 1857 he was rebaptized and reordained, and has labored faithfully in connection with the Seventh-day Adventists, at tent and church work, in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, and Kansas. At the age of seventy-seven his eyesight failed, which, with the infirmities of so many years, forced him to retire from the field, though laboring occasionally in the churches. Since the death of his wife, in 1897, he has lived with his children, ten of whom survive him. The last three winters he spent with his son N. W. Lawrence in Graysville, thus avoiding the rigors of the northern climate. In January last, by undue exposure he contracted a severe cold, and has gradually declined till, like a candle, his life went out. Peacefully he fell asleep. His hope was bright, and his faith in God wavered not. Not a murmur escaped his lips, and till the last, he praised the Lord in the faint whispers of his dying moments. A wide circle of relatives and friends remain to mourn, but not as those without hope. Thus another pioneer in the cause of the Third Angel’s Message has gone to rest till the Lifegiver comes to take him home. His son, E. E. Lawrence, was also present during his last hours, and took with him back to his old home in Michigan, the body for burial by the side of his life companion.