Lewis Feuilleteau Wilson Andrews (September 2, 1802 – March 16, 1875) was an American Southern Universalist minister and a prodigious publisher of denominational and secular newspapers.

[17] Due to his father's urging that his son follow him into the Presbyterian ministry, Andrews enrolled at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 25 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The college, founded by John McMillian (1752–1833), a prominent Presbyterian, offered a classical education, including mathematics, grammar, rhetoric, natural history, Greek, and Latin, which prepared young men for the ministry.

[18] After graduation, Andrews returned home and continued his education, reading history and literature and awaiting a spiritual illumination that would signal his readiness to begin his Presbyterian ministry.

Instead, common to many conversion stories, Waldo's sermon so moved Andrews that he scorned his orthodox beliefs on endless punishment and embraced the eventual happiness of all souls.

I humbly hope you are not confirmed in the sentiments which you have avowed that you are yet open to conviction and will not rest without more diligent and more preferable inquiry after truth.As a Calvinist Presbyterian minister, his father also admonished his son.

If you become a preacher of Unitarianism and Universalism, you will be accountable for all the injury you may do to your hearers, and if they should perish through your instrumentality, let it be deeply impressed upon your mind, that their blood will be required at your hand!The resolve of the young Andrews was equally evident, as he tossed aside the previous beliefs of his youth in the Trinity, original sin, the total depravity of humankind, and a sovereign God's predestination of souls, some to everlasting bliss and others to eternal damnation.

Would not this be the case of a mighty devil has succeeded in wrestling from Jehovah a large part of his creatures?The young Andrews then raised this final point on the intent and power of God.

Menzies Rayner, the outgoing editor, endorsed the appointment, stating, "Though he has not been a member of our communion long, Dr. A. is very favorably known to the Universalist public, as a gentleman of talents and a minister sound in faith.

[39] Whether due to the headwinds created by Whittemore or other obstacles Andrews encountered, within three months, he abandoned his plans to publish the Gospel Witness as a standalone paper.

Before accepting the Callowhill Street Church pastorate, Andrews had announced that he had hoped to spend the fall and winter of 1832 preaching in Georgia and South Carolina.

The Creek Nation had recently ceded additional lands in 1832 under the terms of the Treaty of Cusseta, from which the eastern counties of Alabama would be formed.

[72] That paper quickly changed its name to the Evangelical Universalist when it merged with Andrews's old newspaper, the Southern Evangelist, which had continued to be published in Charleston by Rev.

While in Montgomery, Andrews suggested that the 1834 dedication ceremony of Mulberry Grove include a discussion on creating a regional organizational structure he called the Southern Evangelical Association.

There is a record that he preached at his former Callowhill Church and attended the Democratic Convention to renominate Martin Van Buren for president of the United States in Philadelphia.

Andrews shared that he moved to Columbus, Georgia and undertook to publish a secular newspaper "to escape the penalty adjudged to those who did not provide for their own household.

In support of this new school or seeking a business opportunity, Andrews proposed publishing the Southern Medical Expositor, a newspaper covering lectures, reports, botanical sketches, and other related topics from the institute.

He stressed that he and his paper were "above the influence of party or sect" (italics in original), and he, therefore, had the "largest liberty" to speak unrestrainedly on "all matters, moral, social and political."

"[90] This weekly paper was a workman-like effort providing a wide selection of classified ads and local, national, and international news with a liberal policy to publish letters to the editor.

At the outset of this series, Andrews noted that he was "still a humble enquirer into the hidden mysteries of the spiritual theory," adding he had not yet acquired sufficient information to speak with conviction about the "truth" of the matter.

It contained an assortment of ads, general news, human interest stories, reports on local Confederate soldiers killed or wounded, and the "latest telegraphic" information.

In response to rising costs and a desire to continue to make his paper affordable, Andrews informed his readers he would reduce the number of pages printed.

[113] The only delegate from the Southern states, Andrews appealed to the denomination to allocate financial resources to establish anchor churches in the Georgia cities of Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Augusta, and Columbus.

His Georgia ministry also included Marietta, Ellaville, Schley, and small Universalist clusters in Glascock, Warren, Morgan, Talbot, Whitesburg, and Carrol counties.

Aided by improved railway service, Andrews's ministry reached far from his home in Americus, Georgia, to Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, with additional trps to Arkansas, Florida, and Texas.

Prior to Andrews's arrival, the elders at the local Missionary Baptist Church purged suspected members who harbored Universalist beliefs from its communion roles.

That fall, as portrayed by the actions of Adam and Eve in Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, allegedly irrevocably stained the souls of all humankind with eternal sin.

In his 1837 work, The Two Opinions of Salvation & Damnation, Andrews contrasted Universalist beliefs with those of leading Protestant denominations, Methodist, Episcopalian, Baptist, Catholic, and Presbyterian.

Although differing on unessential points of doctrine and practice, all these sects, Andrews argued, held in common a theology that declared that only some of God's creations would achieve everlasting salvation.

The other school, called restorationists, believed that a period of just punishment was required to cleanse the soul of any lingering sin prior to ascension to heavenly bliss.