4 ADVENTISTS, SEVENTH-DAY. 



patients had exceeded 200. A " Eural Health 

 Retreat" was also sustained at St. Helena, 

 Cal. A the meeting of the European Mission- 

 ary Council, held in Great Grimsby, England, 

 in September and October, 1886, reports were 

 made of the condition of the denominational 

 work in the Scandinavian countries, in all 

 three of which were 22 churches, 602 mem- 

 bers, 809 Sabbath-keepers, 288 Sabbath-school 

 members, 9 ministers, and 16 colporteurs; and 

 $1,223 had been realized from tithes and do- 

 nations. Tent-work had been carried on in 

 England not so successfully as in the previ- 

 ous year and in France and Iraly. 



General Conference. The twenty-fifth General 

 Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists met at 

 Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 18, 1886. Elder 

 George I. Butler presided, and presented at 

 the opening session, reports on the work of 

 the denomination in the United States and 

 foreign countries. Besides missions in various 

 parts of the United States, special accounts 

 were given of missions in Australia, South 

 Africa, England, Scandinavia, and other parts 

 of Europe. Attention was invited to the 

 Maoris of New Zealand as a suitable people 

 among whom to establish a mission, and to 

 the expediency of publishing a paper in their 

 language. The reports were accepted by the 

 Conference as indicating a more rapid spread 

 of " The Third Angel's Message " than had 

 ever been known before, and, with the " per- 

 secutions to which the Seventh-Day people 

 were subjected,' 1 ' of the approaching culmina- 

 tion of the Adventists' work. The hearty 

 Christian sympathy of the Conference was ten- 

 dered to the brethren who were suffering per- 

 secution, and they were urged, with " others 

 upon whom the same things may come, to be 

 in nothing terrified by the adversaries." It 

 was resolved to begin labor among the Hol- 

 landers in the United States, and the publica- 

 tion of a paper in the Dutch language was 

 advised. The publication of a book of plans 

 for buildings for church societies was directed. 

 Resolutions were adopted recommending to 

 persons in charge of city missions, to introduce 

 foreign departments into their work ; that all 

 persons connecting themselves with missions, 

 " should, before going, bring their wearing 

 apparel into harmony with the teachings of 

 the Bible, and the testimonies on the sub- 

 ject " ; that at each camp-meeting at least 

 one session should be devoted to the subject 

 of education, and special effort should be 

 made to induce youths to attend the denomi- 

 national schools ; directing the establishment 

 of a Labor Bureau at Battle Creek; advising 

 the opening of missions in South Africa, South 

 America, and British Honduras, and calling 

 for $100,000 during the year, in addition to 

 pledges already made, for missionary opera- 

 tions ; recommending the institution, at the 

 denominational schools and academies, of 

 special courses for young ministers and per- 

 sons engaged in evangelistic labors ; especially 



AFGHANISTAN. 



insisting upon the importance of the health 

 and temperance branches of the denomina- 

 tional work ; relating to the appointment of 

 reporters of the proceedings of camp-meetings, 

 and other meetings, with reference to securing 

 the critical correctness of translations of de- 

 nominational writings into foreign languages ; 

 declaring the rebaptism of persons who have 

 been " properly baptized " before " embracing 

 the message," not to be necessary ; and ap- 

 proving a publication called the " Chart of the 

 Week," as " an incontrovertible testimony to 

 the unbroken continuity of the creation week, 

 an unanswerable argument to the Sunday the- 

 ory, and a positive proof of the perpetuity of 

 the Seventh-Day Sabbath, showing, that out 

 of more than one hundred and fifty languages 

 and dialects, the large majority recognize Sat- 

 urday as the Sabbath." 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in Central Asia. 

 The ruler, called the Ameer, is Abdurrahman 

 Khan, who was placed on the throne by the 

 English after their conquest of the country in 

 1879. He receives a regular subsidy of about 

 $50,000 a month from the Indian treasury, and 

 is under a treaty engagement to follow the 

 advice of the Viceroy in his relations with 

 foreign powers, while the British Government 

 is under obligation to give him military assist- 

 ance in case of an unprovoked aggression on 

 his territory. 



The Ghilzai Revolt. Abdurrahman has made 

 use of the money and arms given him by the 

 English in an endeavor to establish a firm 

 authority over his immediate subjects, the 

 turbulent and independent Afghan tribes. The 

 Ameer, a man of stern and resolute disposition, 

 was guided in his policy by the conviction that 

 Afghanistan would lose its national existence 

 in the conflict between Russia and England 

 unless the tribes were united and controlled 

 by a single autocratic will. The tribes have 

 never been subservient to a central author- 

 ity, and are unwilling to pay taxes, or to recog- 

 nize any master superior to their own chiefs. 

 The Ameer imposed a tax of ten rupees on 

 every marriage of a daughter and every son 

 born, and five rupees on every widow married, 

 every girl born, and every man migrating to 

 India for employment. The attempt to exact 

 imposts stirred a section of the Ghilzais the 

 strongest and most independent of the Afghan 

 tribes into rebellion. Some of the southern 

 Ghilzais expelled the Ameer's officers, and rose 

 in arms in the autumn of 1886. The Afghan 

 commander-in-chief, Gholam Hyder Charkhi, 

 marched against the insurgents, and was suc- 

 cessful to the extent of securing the safety of 

 the road between Cabul and Candahar. Dur- 

 ing the winter, military operations could not 

 be carried on ; but in the spring of 1887, the 

 revolt broke out afresh, and extended to most 

 of the Ghilzai tribes south of Ghuzni. 



The Ameer, who already possessed a good 

 disciplined army, well armed and drilled, pro- 

 vided with artillery, and commanded by faith- 



