ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



retired to Afghan Ttirkistan, with the admin- 

 istration of which he was intrusted. The 

 spreading discontent with Azim encouraged 

 Shere Ali to make another effort for the re- 

 covery of his rights with the aid of fresh 

 troops from Herat, and the then untried abili- 

 ties of his younger son Ynkoob. Azim 's son 

 had to fly from Candahar, and it became neces- 

 sary to collect all troops within reach. Ac- 

 cordingly, Abdurrahman was summoned from 

 Halkh, and a severe defeat was inflicted upon 

 him by Yakoob. In the winter campaign of 

 1868 Abdurrahman was once more crushingly 

 defeated by Yakoob at Tinah Khan. The civil 

 war closed with that battle. Azim and Ab- 

 durrahman escaped, and the latter traveled 

 through the steppe of the Tekke Turkomans to 

 Urgentch (Khiva). From that place he went 

 on to Bokhara, whence he wrote to General 

 Kaufmann, requesting permission to reside in 

 Russian territory. The request was granted, 

 but all his efforts to obtain aid for reopening 

 the war were firmly refused. The Russian 

 Government, however, accorded to him a pen- 

 sion of 25,000 rubles a year (1 ruble = 78 

 cents), and Mr. Schuyler has told us that for 

 the last nine years he has been living upon 

 one fifth of his allowance. He must conse- 

 quently have saved during that period close 

 upon 200,000 rubles, the significance of this 

 fact consisting in the circumstance that in 1872 

 he told General Kaufmann he could raise up 

 an insurrection in Afghanistan if half that sum 

 were given to him. Mr. Schuyler's descrip- 

 tion of Abdurrahman conveys a favorable im- 

 pression of his force of character. In Afghan- 

 istan proper his reputation after his flight to 

 Russia appeared to have paled before that of 

 his cousin Yakoob, but it always remained 

 considerable in Turkistan from Balkh to Ba- 

 dakshaii. As governor, he is remembered as 

 tin' best of the last generation. As soldier, the 

 Uzbecks took a personal interest in his suc- 

 cesses and sympathized with him on his de- 

 feats, for it was they who fought and bled 

 under him. An additional motive was given 

 for their affection by his marriage with the 

 daughter of Jehandir Shah, ex-chief of Ba- 

 dakshan. (A full account of his movements in 

 1880 is given in the article AFGHANISTAN.) 

 II i* twelve years' residence in Russian terri- 

 tory has made Abdurrahman quite different 

 from all other Afghan princes. He has 

 learned to write and dictate his own letters, 

 and to act and to think for himself without 

 the dangerous aid of a crafty confidant. Her- 

 mann Vamb6ry, who is generally regarded as 

 the best living authority on the affairs of Cen- 

 tr.il A-ia, regards the installation of Abdur- 

 rahman (" Allgemeine Zeitung," June 3, 1880) 

 as fraught with danger for the English inter- 

 ests in India. 



ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH, com- 

 monly called Second Adventists. The name 

 Advent Christian is the more common church 

 designation. This denomination embraces a 



class of religious worshipers organized into 

 churches and conferences, found in all the 

 Northern States and California, excepting the 

 Rocky Mountain States, in several of the South- 

 ern States, and in the Canadas. They are more 

 numerous according to population in the New 

 England States. Their ministry numbers more 

 than four hundred regular preachers, and their 

 congregations over six hundred, many of the 

 ministers preaching to more than one congrega- 

 tion. They are congregational in their church 

 polity, and their conferences exercise no eccle- 

 siastical jurisdiction over the churches, but are 

 advisory to them. They meet for worship on 

 the first day of the week, teach justification by 

 faith, conversion and regeneration through the 

 Holy Spirit, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and 

 atonement by his blood alone. Their distinc- 

 tive tenets are, the present entire mortality of 

 mankind, the unconscious state of the dead, the 

 resurrection of the body a necessity to a future 

 life, the personal second advent of the Saviour 

 soon to be revealed, immortality to be given to 

 the righteous only at that time, the utter de- 

 struction of the ungodly in the judgment-day, 

 and the renewed earth the final and only prom- 

 ised inheritance of the saints. They make Chris- 

 tian character, and not denominational tenets, 

 the test of Christian fellowship, and practice 

 baptism by immersion only. They teach no set 

 time as known by man for the second advent, 

 though they have done so somewhat formerly 



PUBLISHING AND MISSION SOCIETIES. The 

 largest organization of the Second Adventists 

 as a denomination is that called The Second 

 Advent Christian Association, which holds its 

 meetings annually and transacts business relat- 

 ing to gospel work by this people. This as- 

 sociation is formed of delegates sent from the 

 various conferences, each conference being en- 

 titled to one delegate, and to an additional dele- 

 gate for every three hundred church-members 

 within its limits. This association was organ- 

 ized A. D. 1860, has been somewhat modified 

 since then to suit its increasing work, and held 

 its last annual meeting in Chelsea, Mass., in the 

 Advent Christian church, commencing Tues- 

 day, August 17, 1880. Elder E. A. Stockman, 

 of Chelsea, Mass., was elected President; Elder 

 E. McCulloch, of Nevada, O., Vice-President; 

 Elder Frank Burr, of Portland, Me., Secretary ; 

 and Ozias Goodrich, of Boston, Mass., Business 

 Agent. Nine members at large were elected a 

 Board of Directors, and these with the officers 

 constitute a Board of Managers for the year, 



The association also controls and elects offi- 

 cers for a society formed of its adherents, and 

 called the Advent Christian Publishing Society, 

 the object of which is to issue a weekly religious 

 paper called " The World's Crisis," also to pub- 

 lish and keep for sale tracts and books on reli- 

 gious subjects. Officers for the present fiscal 

 year, Elder S. G. Mathewson, of Westfield, 

 Mass., President ; Elder -Frank Burr, Secretary; 

 0. Goodrich, Treasurer and Business Agent. 

 There is also an Editorial Committee of three, 



