6 



ADVENTISTS. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



A debt was reported of $10,000 on the college, 

 against which were unpaid pledges sufficient, 

 if paid in, to meet it. 



The fifteenth annual session of the Seventh- 

 day Adventist General Conference was held 

 at Lansing, Mich., beginning September 19th. 

 A conference recently organized in Kentucky 

 and Tennessee was recognized and admitted 

 to the General Conference. Elder James White 

 was chosen president. Resolutions were adopt- 

 ed regretting the neglect of the health reform 

 and the return to old, unhealthful habits of 

 living as likely to work only evil to the peo- 

 ple, and to displease God, and advising minis- 

 ters u to practise the reform themselves and 

 teach it to the people on all suitable occa- 

 sions," urging young men and middle-aged 

 men to engage in the work of the ministry ; no- 

 ticing an increased interest in camp-meetings 

 and pledging greater efforts to improve them ; 

 expressing interest in the spread of the doc- 

 trines of the church in the Southern States, 

 and pledging aid to the work " as fast and as 

 far as our means and men will allow ; " rec- 

 ommending special efforts to secure the inter- 

 est of persons and companies in different parts 

 of the world holding the Sabbath doctrines of 

 this church, in its tract and missionary work ; 

 commending the school of the General Confer- 

 ence to the people of the church, and urging 

 contributions to it " to place it upon a good 

 financial basis ; " noticing " with joy " the ap- 

 pearance of a French paper issued in Europe 

 under the direction of the General Confer- 

 ence Committee ; reiterating the precept that 

 one-tenth of the income of members of the 

 church should be given to God; and recogniz- 

 ing with gratitude the continued and growing 

 feeling of fraternity between their own de- 

 nomination and the Seventh-day Baptists. 



The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of this denomination as they were present- 

 ed to the General Conference, September 19, 

 1876: 



Explanation was made that the report from 

 Michigan was incomplete, and the reports from 

 New England, New York, and Illinois, were 



given as for 1875, with modifications for a few 

 known changes which had taken place, the re- 

 ports from those States for 1876 not having 

 been received. The report showed a gain 

 from 1875 of 27 ministers, 59 churches, 2,012 

 members, and $11,279.85 in contributions for 

 systematic benevolence. Companies of Sev- 

 enth-day Adventists were noticed as having 

 been organized in Texas, Virginia, and Mary- 

 land. The treasurer of the Seventh-day Ad- 

 ventist Educational Society reported that his 

 receipts and expenditures for the year beginning 

 August 12, 1875, had been each $12,354.73. 

 The society had property, consisting of the col- 

 lege grounds and buildings, detached lots of 

 real estate, detached buildings, etc., valued at 

 $51,651.37, and was indebted $13,360.89, leav- 

 ing $38,290.48 as the amounts of its assets 

 after all debts were paid. The treasurer of 

 the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Asso- 

 ciation reports that his receipts and expendi- 

 tures for the thirteen months ending Septem- 

 ber 15, 1876, had been each $161,423.56. The 

 association had property valued at $142,656.82, 

 and was indebted $45,937.23, leaving as its 

 net assets $96,719.59. The treasurer of the 

 Health Eeform Institute reported that his re- 

 ceipts for the thirteen months ending Septem- 

 ber 14, 1876, had been $18,188.15, and his ex- 

 penditures $14,584.78. The institute had prop- 

 erty valued at $39,490.18, and was indebted 

 $1,800, leaving $37,690.18 as the amount of 

 its clear assets. The treasurer of the General 

 Conference reported that his receipts and ex- 

 penditures for thirteen months, ending Sep- 

 tember 15, 1876, had been each $6,194.09. 

 The meetings of the General Conference and 

 the several societies were held in connection 

 with a camp-meeting, at Lansing, Mich., which 

 was estimated to be the largest ever held 

 by one denomination. Sixteen hundred and 

 twenty-two persons were permanently en- 

 camped on the ground, and the regular daily 

 attendance at the meetings numbered between 

 two and three thousand. 



AFGHANISTAN,* a country in Central 

 Asia, bounded north by east by Turkistan, 

 east by British India, south by Beloochistan, 

 and west by Persia; area 278,000 square miles, 

 population about 4,000,000. Present ruler, 

 Amir Shere Ali. The army of the Emir, ac- 

 cording to late accounts, is said to consist of 

 100,000 men, divided into fifty-seven regiments 

 of infantry, thirty batteries of artillery, and 

 twenty regiments of c.'ivalry. The pay of the 

 soldiers was, in 1876, raised by the Amir to 

 seven rupees a month. 



The Governments of both Russia and British 

 India sent, in 1876, special embassies to Afghan- 

 istan, an indication of the growing desire of 

 each of these powers to obtain a controlling 

 influence upon this battle-field of their Central 

 Asian policy. The transactions of both en> 



* For an account of the regulation of the northern fron- 

 tier, and of the population of the several provinces, e 

 CTCLOP^EDIA for 1874. 



