JOHN NORTON LOUGHBOROUGH 29Obituary, Review and Herald, June 19, 1924, p. 77; Dick, Founders, chap. 6; Spalding, Footprints, chap. 17, also Captains. (1832-1924), chronicler of pioneer days, was born in Victor, New York, of Methodist parentage. John became a Christian at an early age, and learned the blacksmithing and carriage-making trades. He was reared by a godly grandfather, whose prayers were a living reality. Passing through the 1843 and 1844 experiences, he began preaching for the first-day Adventists in 1849. He was only seventeen, and was known as “the boy preacher.” In 1852 he first listened to a series of lectures on the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists, given by J. N. Andrews. They were so clear and convincing that he forthwith accepted the positions of the Sabbatarians, and immediately began to proclaim them to others. He was ordained in 1854 and was one of the three young stalwarts—Andrews, Smith, and Loughborough—~who upheld the hands of the older Joseph Bates, and James and Ellen White, in the days of pioneer building. PFF4 1106.1
Genial and sprightly, he was an indefatigable worker. His writings were unusually interesting, being filled with anecdote and incident. Author of a half dozen books, he became the first chronicler of the rise of the denomination, producing Rise and Progress of the Seventh-day Adventists in 1891, which was superseded by The Great Second Advent Movement (1905). He bore numerous responsibilities as evangelist, administrator, and pioneer, helping to open up the work of the church on the Pacific Coast in 1868. He was likewise the first representative sent to develop the work in England, in 1878. And he served as president of several conferences as well as superintendent of General Conference districts. He likewise pioneered in the use of tent meetings for public evangelism, beginning in 1854 in Battle Creek, Michigan, and was closely associated with the work of Mrs. White for many years. He was a lover of the Word, having read the Bible through more than “three score” times. PFF4 1106.2
Lough borough’s views on prophecy can be compassed in a paragraph: His views on the great outline prophecies and time periods of Daniel were standard, and harmonize with those of the other Adventist expositors of the day. For example, in the Revelation “the seven churches apply to seven states, or seven different periods of the church,” 30Loughborough, “A Letter to a Friend, on the Seven Churches,” Review and Herald, March 19, 1857, p. 153. covering the Christian Era. The Two Witnesses are the two Testaments. 31Loughborough, “The Two Witnesses” [part 1], Review and Herald, Jan. 14, 1862, p. 53. He follows Andrews on the two-horned lamblike beast as the United States of America, with its youthfulness and gentleness, and its Protestant and Republican horns. The “image” of the Beast is an ultimate union of church and state to enforce its religious mandates under civil duress, just as the Papacy before it had done; and the “mark” involves the change of the Sabbath. 32Loughborough, “The Two-Horned Beast,” Review and Herald, March 21, 1854, p. 66; March 28, 1854, pp. 74, 75; The Two-Horned Beast of Rev. XIII, A Symbol of the United States (1857). PFF4 1107.1