While studying at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, he co-founded the Arabian Mission with John Lansing and Samuel Marinus Zwemer.

Together they founded a women's clinic in Muscat, Oman, worked at missionary posts, and when the United Missions was formed, they were both representatives of the Reformed Church in America for the organization.

Cantine co-authored the book, The Golden Milestone: Reminiscences of Pioneer Days Fifty Years in Arabia with Zwemer.

He was born on the family homestead in Stone Ridge, New York on March 3, 1861[3] to James and Charlotte Hasbrouck Cantine.

[3][7] After graduating, Cantine worked for three years as an engineer at Westinghouse Air Brake Company in Schenectady, but decided to become a missionary.

[2] About two and a half months later, on October 16, Cantine boarded a ship for Beirut;[11] Zwemer would join him after he completed his last year at the seminary.

[13][c] Both Cantine and Zwemer visited a number of cities in the Arabia region to determine the best place for them to establish a mission.

[20][d] Another station was opened up at Amara, and Dr. Worrall was well enough to see patients in Basrah and Nasariah, creating a means to build relationships with the local people.

[20] Zwemer settled in 1895[20] or 1896 in Bahrain,[16] which had been judged to have very poor living conditions, like malaria, cholera, dysentery, and smallpox due to significant humidity and high temperatures.

[2] They stayed in Muscat, Oman, where Elizabeth made house calls, worked at a daily clinic, and taught at a sewing school for girls.

[23][30] Zwemer raised funds and Cantine implemented the plans to build the Union Church and Religious Center in Baghdad by mid-1926.

He returned to the homestead in Stone Ridge[2] and continued promoting the work of the Arabian mission by speaking out to various sections of the Reformed Church.

[2] Cantine was co-author of The Golden Milestone: Reminiscences of Pioneer Days Fifty Years in Arabia with Zwemer,[32] which he spoke about in the United States.

Therein is found the secret of his imperturbable calm, his unwavering faith, which enabled him to face disappointment, suffering, and apparent failure with that sweet, philosophical smile of utter confidence in the fundamental rightness of things, which none who knew him can ever forget.