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A Faithful Laborer at Rest

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 6, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 49.

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A Faithful Laborer at Rest

By C. H. Edwards

GEORGE A. KING died of pneumonia, at his home in New York City, Sunday night, November 4, aged fifty-nine years and seven months. Brother King was born at Toronto, Canada, in 1847. His father being a “class leader” in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was reared in the doctrines and tenets of that denomination.
At the age of twenty he came to the United States with the avowed intention of taking up a claim of land in the great West. On this westward journey he was attracted to a gospel tent located in a small Western town. From the lips of Elders R. M. Kilgore and D. M. Canright he first heard the third angel’s message. This revolutionized his entire life. Instead of looking for land in the West, he turned his feet toward a land where the inhabitants may hold their claims forever. Never for a moment has he faltered, and his last public testimony was that never in his experience had the truth seemed so precious to him.
Within a few years from the time he embraced the truth, he was publicly proclaiming the message which had done so much for him. His first series of public lectures was held in connection with our late lamented Brother S. H. Lane. Even to-day there are those living who stand as monuments of their faithful labors. Although he felt that his work as a public speaker was blessed of the Lord, yet he felt especially called to scatter the printed pages containing the message.
As nearly every member of his father’s family had died of consumption, he had a lingering dread of that fearful disease. When the light of healthful living came to him, he hailed it joyfully, and it was his candid conviction that, owing to his adoption of those principles, he was spared for many years’ service. Before his last sickness he was remarkably active for a man of his years.
His appreciation of health reform led him into the work of selling health literature. This he continued till he felt deeply impressed that we ought to present the entire truths of the message to the world in an attractive form. It was at the General Conference held in December, 1881, that he urged very strongly the idea of printing “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation” in an attractive manner. Steps at that time were taken to carry out this idea, and from that suggestion has come the splendid list of publications we have to-day. He at once inaugurated among the brethren the system of canvassing for our denominational works which has been such a mighty factor in building up our work in the earth.
At that early date he was the pioneer canvasser of the denomination, and nearly all the older and successful canvassers received encouragement and instruction from him. For over thirty long years he never laid the harness off, but through hot or cold, summer or winter, Brother King was at his post of duty. Never complaining or discouraged, but firm in the conviction that God had called him to this work, he surmounted every difficulty, and died with the harness on.
After successfully laboring in Indiana, Colorado, and New Mexico, he went to the Southern States, where he left the printed page as a witness of his labors. Later he went to British Guiana, South America, where he met with excellent success, but the climate forced him away. Another trip into the West Indies resulted in leaving several thousand dollars’ worth of books containing the message. The fruits of that labor are being seen even to-day. But a short time ago a stranger visited one of our large gatherings in New York. During a short testimony which he bore he asked for Brother George A. King. Upon seeing him he burst into tears, and declared that he first received the light from him in Jamaica when he canvassed there years ago. This man is one of the officials connected with our Caribbean Conference.
From Jamaica Brother King came to Greater New York, and decided to remain here, because, as he declared, it was his belief that it was the hardest field in the world. For over nineteen years he has traveled the streets of this city, and probably, no more faithful worker has ever connected with the work in any land than Brother King. While in a private conversation with the writer, he acknowledged that during this time he had sold over twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth of publications. Modesty always kept him from reporting his sales. Although always enthusiastic about the work, yet his own personal work was always hidden from sight.
In his death, New York has lost one of its most devoted workers. His place can not now be filled, but this may be God’s means of inspiring us all with a greater zeal for the work, and a heavy burden to complete the work begun by our beloved brother.
He died as he had lived, a devoted worker, a loving father, and a faithful, loyal brother.
Under the blessing of the third angel’s message he is resting till the Life-giver shall come, when he will come forth to see the fruit of his tireless labors, and to enter the joy of his Lord.
C. H. EDWARDS.