Merritt E. Cornell was born on February 26, 1827 in a small town called Chili, New York. At the age of 10 his family moved to Michigan. Not much is known about his parents, but he had at least one younger brother, Myron Cornell.
During the 1840’s the Cornells accepted William Miller’s prediction regarding the Second Coming of Jesus, that it would occur sometime in 1843 or 1844. Merritt was aged 17 at the time of the Great Disappointment on October 22, 1844.
Merritt Cornell early believed the advent message, and dedicated his life to preaching it.
In 1849 he married Angeline M. A. Lyon, the daughter of Henry and Deborah Lyon, who were early Adventist believers from Plymouth, Michigan. Angeline was also the sister of the woman whom Merritt’s brother, Myron, would later marry.
After studying the Bible with Joseph Bates at the home of Daniel and Abigail Palmer in Jackson, Michigan, in August 1852, Merritt and Angeline became Sabbath-keeping Adventists. Merritt immediately began sharing the truth with others. On his way home from the meetings, he stopped to tell his friend Kellogg about the Sabbath truth. He then went to tell Angeline’s father. J. P. Kellogg and Cornell’s father-in-law; both accepted the Bible evidence and became Sabbath keepers.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, in January 1853, Cornell and James White ordained the young J. N. Loughborough who had also become a Sabbath-keeping Adventist the year before. Cornell became an active co-worker with Loughborough. James and Ellen White then persuaded both men to go on a preaching tour of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin in the summer of 1853. During this tour, they met J. H. Waggoner of Wisconsin who also then accepted the message. Angeline assisted her husband as a Bible instructor. She helped by staying after the meetings closed to help potential converts make a decision They held their meetings in homes and school houses at that time.
In 1854 Cornell helped the Whites with evangelism. They faced a problem in that only half the people who wanted to come and listen could fit in the school room or homes After one of the meetings, James White said they needed to purchase a tent the next year, thinking that it would take that amount of time to raise the money. Cornell immediately responded by saying, “let’s buy it now.” At the next meeting they had raised enough money to buy it. It cost them $160.00.
Then in July 1854, in Battle Creek Michigan, the first Sabbatarian tent meetings were held. The meetings were conducted by Loughborough and Cornell and the tent was crowded.
Following these meetings, at Loughborough’s request, Cornell rebaptized him in the Kalamazoo River (as an infant, Loughborough had been sprinkled in the Methodist Episcopal Church). They continued holding tent meetings and at the meeting in Grand Rapids it was reported that about 1000 people attended.
Over the next two decades, Cornell and Loughborough would enjoy a productive preaching partnership from Maine to California. Together they held the first Seventh-day Adventist tent meetings in San Francisco and also worked with D. M. Canright in Oakland, California.
In 1863 he held the funeral service for James and Ellen White’s son, Henry, in a Baptist Church in Topsham, Maine.
Cornell is described as a dramatic speaker and convincing debater, and soon gained a reputation not only as one of the most fruitful soul winners, but also as one of the hardest-hitting evangelists in Adventist ranks. Uriah Smith stated that he “has defended the views of Seventh-day Adventists more extensively, probably, in public debate, than any man among us.” In September 1856, for example, Bates and Cornell held tent meetings in Hillsdale, Michigan, where no Sabbath-keepers lived, and soon after baptized fifty converts. Merritt Cornell was also a writer. He wrote several books and some articles and news items about his experiences for The Review and Herald.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), Cornell and Loughborough occasionally suspended their evangelistic meetings, allowing their tent to be used by the U.S. Army as a recruitment station.
Cornell has been compared with the disciple Peter in the Bible. Like the disciple, he was headstrong and bold, but had other serious character faults. Despite his many talents and successful ministry, Ellen White sent Merritt letters expressing concern about his improper conduct with women which was causing a division in San Francisco. At that time his wife was not with him.
In June 1871 he became infatuated with Sarah E. Harris, an Adventist divorcée with two children who lived in the San Francisco area. Soon they were taking long walks in public and (according to her children) spending private time together in Harris’ bedroom. Loughborough tried reasoning with his friend in fireside chats and prayer sessions, and when that failed, he sent Merritt letters of admonition, but to no avail. On January 28, 1872 he then scheduled a church trial to remove Cornell from church membership and from the ministry.
The night before the hearing, however, Merritt had received a letter from Ellen White based on a vision she had received on December 10, 1871 (but not mailed until January 18, 1872) warning him that his soul was in danger and that his bad influence was crippling the cause. She then urged him to repent. “But, Brother R, I was shown that you now should be very circumspect in your deportment and in your words. You are watched by enemies. You have great weaknesses for a man who is as strong as you are to move the crowd. As you are now separated from your wife there will be suspicion and jealousy, and falsehoods will be framed even if you give no occasion. But if you are not cautious, you will bring a reproach upon the cause of God which could not soon be wiped away. You may feel, as I saw you had felt, that if you were not going to live with your wife, you wished to be free from her. You are restless, uneasy, and unsettled. Satan is tempting you to make a foolish man of yourself. Now is the time for you to show yourself a man, to exhibit the grace of God by your patience, your fortitude, and courage.” –Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, p. 167. You can read the entire letter in the book, Testimonies on Sexual Behaviour P 166-181. It is addressed to Brother R, and this Brother R is Merritt Cornell.
At a five-hour meeting in the San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, Cornell confessed his indiscretions, apologized for the hurt he had brought to the cause, and asked for forgiveness. Harris, on the other hand, denied the accuracy of Mrs. White’s statements, refused to admit any wrongdoing, and was expelled from the church. A few months later, Cornell declared in the Review: “My soul thirsts after God, and yields every idol. A genuine conversion and new experience, I must have. I know that nothing short of an entire consecration to the work will fit me to take part in this holy work. The truth looks brighter, and I love it more and more.”
In late 1874, however, when Cornell’s previous immoral conduct resurfaced, Ellen White warned him that in his present position he was wholly unfit to be a minister of the Gospel.
In 1876 his credentials were removed, but He did not lose total faith in God. For the next eleven years (1878-1889) he was not paid by the denomination, but continued doing “freelance preaching”.
In 1889 Merritt and Angeline Cornell returned to Battle Creek, Michigan, and he was repentant and he reconciled with the Church leaders. During the next three years, he returned to active ministry in the church, visiting local churches and preaching when invited to do so, and he was given his credentials back. Ellen White wrote of him, “he is a deeply repenting man, humbled in the dust.” –Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, p. 379
In 1892 he retired to care for his wife, who was partially paralyzed.
Cornell had a fallen human nature as we all do. As mentioned, he is a modern day Peter who had his own struggles. He shared what he heard immediately and with passion. He did not wait until next year to what could be done this year. God wants to use you but be cautious of your weaknesses. Learn that lesson from our pioneers.
Merritt Cornell died on November 2, 1893 at the age of 67 of an internal hemorrhage. Uriah Smith presided at his funeral, held two days later in the Dime Tabernacle and it is recorded that about 2000 people attended his memorial service the following Sabbath.