John Nevins Andrews (July 22, 1829 – October 21, 1883) was a

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

minister, the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary, writer, editor, and scholar.

Andrews University Andrews University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists and is the flagship universi ...

(Michigan, USA), a university owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church, is named after him.

Biography

Born in

Poland, Maine Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fresh ...

in 1829, Andrews became a

Millerite Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, Ni S. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general la ...

in February 1843 and began to observe the seventh-day Sabbath in 1845. He met James White and Ellen G. White in September 1849. Later, the Whites boarded with the Andrews family. In 1850 he began itinerant pastoral ministry in New England, and he was ordained in 1853. Andrews played a pivotal role in the establishment of Adventist theology. Among his more memorable achievements in Adventist prophetic interpretation, was developing the connection between the two-horned beast of Revelation as the United States of America. On October 29, 1856, Andrews married Angeline Stevens (1824–1872) in Waukon, Iowa, where the Andrews and Stevens families had recently moved. In June 1859 a conference in

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which en ...

voted that Andrews should assist J. N. Loughborough in tent evangelism in Michigan. He returned to Iowa in the fall of 1860. During these years their first two children were born: Charles (b. 1857) and Mary (b. 1861), and Andrews wrote the first edition of his most prominent book, ''The History of the Sabbath and the First Day of the Week'' (Battle Creek Steam Press, 1859). In June 1862 John left Waukon to work with the evangelistic tent in New York and assisted in the founding of the New York Conference. In February 1863 Angeline and their two children moved from Iowa to join him in New York. Two more children were born to John and Angeline while in New York, both of whom died in infancy from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. In 1864, John was chosen as the denominational representative to the provost marshal general in Washington, D.C., to secure recognition for the church as noncombatants. On May 14, 1867 Andrews was elected the third president of the General Conference (until May 18, 1869) after which he became editor of the Review and Herald (1869–1870), now the

Adventist Review The General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists is the governing organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its headquarters is located in Silver Spring, Maryland and oversees the church in directing its various divisions an ...

. In 1872 Angeline died from a stroke. John moved to

South Lancaster, Massachusetts South Lancaster is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Lancaster and close to the Town of Clinton in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,894 at the 2010 census. Geography South Lancaster is located at ...

, where the children could stay with the Harris family. Two years later (September 15, 1874) John, along with his two surviving children, Charles and Mary, were sent as the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to Europe. Andrews helped start a publishing house in Switzerland and an Adventist periodical in French, ''Les Signes des Temps'' (1876). In 1878 Mary contracted tuberculosis and died soon after arriving for treatment at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. John continued his work as a missionary in Europe, dying there in 1883 of tuberculosis. He was 54. He is buried in Basel, Switzerland. His grandson John Nevins Andrews was a medical missionary working in Sichuan Province, West China.

Legacy

in Berrien Springs, Michigan, was named after him in 1960, as well as John Nevins Andrews School, in 1907, which is located in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City", is a Tree C ...

. In 1993 a sculpture of Andrews was unveiled in front of the Andrews University Pioneer Memorial Church. In 2005 the papers of J. N. Andrews were donated by descendants to the Center for Adventist Research.Center for Adventist Research
at Andrews University

Bibliography

* ''Review of the Remarks of O.R.L. Crozier on the institution, design, and abolition of the Sabbath'' (1853) * ''History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week'' (1861, 2nd edition 1873, 3rd edition 1887, 4th edition with L. R. Conradi 1912) * ''Samuel and the Witch of Endor, or, The Sin of Witchcraft'' (186-?) * ''The Sanctuary and Twenty-Three Hundred Days'' (1872) * ''The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day (1873, 2nd edition 1876) * ''Sermon on the Two Covenants'' (1875) *

' (1877) * ''The Sunday Seventh-day Theory; an Examination of the Teachings of Mede, Jennings, Akers, and Fuller'' (1884) *

' (1890) * ''The Sabbath and the Law'' (1890?)

References

Sources

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External links