The Call of Other Pioneer Workers in the Message
By J. O. Corliss
The Experiences of Former Days—No. 8
The Call of Other Pioneer Workers in the Message
VERY soon after the office of the Advent Review was located in Paris, Maine, in 1850, a young man accepted the message, who had just attained his majority. After reaching the age of twelve, he had, by force of circumstances, been denied school privileges; yet so keen was his intellect, and so logical his trend of thought, that at the age of fourteen he was frequently invited to address the people of his native village on religious topics. Upon receiving the truth, this young man burned with zeal to fit himself for usefulness in God's cause. In this he succeeded, as every young man of to-day might succeed if he would devote as much time to study as did the young man John Nevins Andrews. His invariable custom, as long as the writer had opportunity to observe it, was to arise at four in the morning for devotion and study. The result was a command of seven languages, and a most extensive information in both secular and religious history. But the most valuable part of his mental acquirement was his knowledge of the Bible. The writer once heard the question asked him as to how much of the Bible he could quote from memory. The answer was: “I would not presume to say that I could repeat all of the Old Testament, but I feel certain that if the new Testament was lost, I could reproduce it verbatim.” One of the earliest productions of Elder Andrews' pen was a pamphlet of about one hundred pages, entitled “The Four Kingdoms, The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days.” No writings of later days have made the subject more simple and plain than that little work. But that which gave Brother Andrews the prominence as a man of deep research and a candid reasoner, was the large book entitled “The History of the Sabbath.” This showed years of patient toil and its thoroughness was characteristic of the man in everything he undertook. He became the first Seventh-day Adventist missionary to foreign lands, founding the Swiss Mission in 1874. Nine years later he died in Basel, at the age of fifty-four years and three months. The year 1852 witnessed the accession of three other men who were destined to fill prominent places as workers in the ranks of Sabbath-keeping Adventists. Elder J. H. Waggoner was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but when a young man, emigrated to Wisconsin, where he became proprietor of a local newspaper. His legal talents were quite conspicuous, and the prospect for public advancement was bright before him. In 1852, however, he surrendered all this for the truth, and soon began the public presentation of it. His most noted published work was a book entitled “The Atonement,” in which his power of reasoning shone with great clearness. His geniality made him a desirable companion, both in the evangelical field and in the editorial room. After having the editorial management of The Signs of the Times for several years, he went to Switzerland, to edit the French Signs of the Times, and there fell asleep April 17, 1889, and was laid by the side of the lamented Elder Andrews. John N. Loughborough, a native of New York State, had been connected with the advent message since he was fourteen years of age. When, in this same year, the Sabbath truth came to him, he quickly received it, and immediately began active labor in its behalf. For more than half a century he has traveled widely, proclaiming the message, and now, at a ripe age, is enjoying fair health in the sunny clime of California. Merritt E. Cornell, though but a young man, had, up to this time, been preaching considerably for the people known as First-day Adventists. But upon hearing the Sabbath truth in Jackson, Mich., from Elder Bates, he received it, and became one of its most intrepid advocates. An interesting story is connected with his experience in the early work, which, for lack of space, must be deferred for a time. Suffice it to say now that hundreds of people were led to rejoice in salvation through his earnest labors, and he rests in hope, having died in Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 2, 1893.