ADVENTISTS. 



. jit the conditions imposed of turning from 



-in. repentance, faith in Christ, and a life of 

 K. liberation "thus excluding all hope of a 

 future probation or of universal salvation." 



1'rt-lief in the visible and personal second coming 

 of Christ to the earth, his reign here forever, 

 and the renewal of the earth to be forever free 

 fi-oin sin and death is further expressed. 

 Christ, the approximate time of his coming being 

 indicated in Bible prophecy, is believed to be 

 near, and the proclamation of this truth to be 

 the great duty of the hour. The statistics of 

 the denomination have not been systematically 

 compiled. A committee was appointed in 1900 

 ! prepare an annual of denominational statis- 

 tic-. It -cciircd returns from 32 out of the 60 

 coiifrinic r-. and -time local and scattered items 

 in a. I. lit ion. and has published as the summary 

 of the condition of these bodies the following 

 totals: Nuiiilx-r of ordained ministers, 716; of 

 licensed ministers, 112; of churches, 646, with 

 j:{..">!M members: of Sunday-schools, 341, with 

 11.S70 enrolled members. Four publishing soci- 

 ctie- tin- Advent Christian Publishing Society, 

 I '.o-ton, Mass.; the Western Advent Christian 

 I'lildi-liing Society, Mendota, 111.; the Pacific Ad- 

 vent Christian Publication and Mission Society, 

 Oakland, Cal.; and the' Southern Advent Chris- 

 tian Publication Society, Lamar, S. C. issue 

 each a weekly religious newspaper, and a month- 

 ly jx'riodical is published at Worcester, Mass., 

 and (uiarterlies at Boston, Mass., and Sunday- 

 -i hoof periodicals and helps as well as a consid- 

 erable number of denominational books are pub- 

 lished at the house in Boston. 



The American Advent Mission Society was or- 

 ganized in 1865, primarily to labor among the 

 freed men in the South, but now includes foreign 

 and domestic departments. In the foreign field 

 it -upports in whole or in part 8 laborers, with 15 

 native workers, and several free laborers at Nan- 

 king. Wuhu, and Han Shan Hsien, and several 

 substations in China and in India, where a pub- 

 li-hing house has been established at Bangalore, 

 with a selling and lending library. Literature is 

 printed at this establishment in 7 languages, and 

 i- di-trilnited by agents in 15 centers "and other 

 places." The work of the society in England 

 has been of late years largely self-supporting. 

 Portuguese mis-ions are maintained in the Cape 

 Verde Islands and in Taunton, Mass. Mission 

 si-hools are sustained at Nanking and Wuhu, 

 China, and Kgrnore and Kenigunta, India. The 

 -ociety is also aiding 10 or more workers in the 

 home field, besides assisting several conferences 

 in their mission work. The home missions are 

 largely in charge of the Western and Southern 

 Hume Mi ion Hoards. A Church Extension fund 

 in operated in connection with this society. The 

 Advent Christian Helper's Union, organized in 



S4, is a woman's society auxiliary to the mis- 

 sion society in its foreign work, the Woman's 

 Home and Foreign Mission Society, organized in 



H97, works through the mission societies, 

 churches, etc., in home missions, but carries on 

 foreign mi-sion work on its own account, princi- 

 pally in India, where it supports several schools, 

 3 orphanages, 3 missionaries, and about 20 work- 

 "-. It publishes the All Nations Monthly, 

 Koekland, Me. The young people are organized 

 into the Young People's Society of Loyal Work- 

 ers, consisting of the general Eastern aiid the gen- 

 eral Western societies, which have together 1 16 

 I societies with about 5.000 members. The 

 educational institutions are Mendota College 

 M.ndota. III., founded in 1803. for both sexes! 

 with 4 departments and courses of study, and 



the Boston Bible School, established in 1897, and- 

 incorporated in 1902. The Loyal Workers' Insti- 

 tute is a course of reading to be pursued at 

 home. 



II. Life and Advent Union. The distinct- 

 ive doctrines of this branch of the Adventists 

 include the extinction of the wicked at death and 

 the resurrection of the just to everlasting life. It 

 holds a general conference in each year, 4 camp- 

 meetings in Maine, Connecticut, and Virginia 

 and quarterly conferences in some places. The 

 Life and Advent Missionary Society and the 

 Young People's Life and Advent Missionary So- 

 ciety are organizations for carrying on home 

 mission work exclusively. A considerable num- 

 ber of books, with the Herald of Life, the news- 

 paper organ of the denomination, are issued from 

 the publishing house at Springfield, Mass. Fifty- 

 one ministers are registered on the rolls of the 

 General Council, with about 24 churches; and 

 there are other ministers whose names have not 

 been enrolled. The number of members is not 

 given in the reports of the body, but is estimated 

 to be about 3,800. 



III. Seventh-day Adventists. At the Sev- 

 enth-day Adventist General Conference of 1901 

 a new constitution was adopted and important 

 changes were made in the organization of the 

 Church. Among the more considerable of these 

 changes was the grouping of the State confer- 

 ences into union conferences, each representing a 

 definite district or number of States, to take over 

 a part of the work of the General Conference, 

 and among which many of the functions and 

 duties hitherto performed by it and its liabilities 

 and assets were to be distributed according to- 

 their local relations and strength. Six of these 

 union conferences were constituted in the United 

 States, one in Canada, one in Europe, and one in 

 Australasia. This change was accompanied with 

 a readjustment of the affairs of the General Con- 

 ference Association, the legal arm of the General 

 Conference. Steps were taken late in 1901 to 

 apportion the liabilities of this association to 

 the union conferences according to the in- 

 stitutions within their borders and their abil- 

 ity to pay. The plan adopted contemplated 

 the creation of a legal corporation within the 

 territory of each union conference for the trans- 

 action of legal business and the transfer to such 

 corporations by the General Conference Associa- 

 tion of whatever institutions and church prop- 

 erty it was holding in the several districts, with 

 the assumption by them of the corresponding lia- 

 bilities, in such a way that the General Confer- 

 ence Association should be relieved of a large 

 share of its financial obligations and they should 

 be assumed by those union conference organiza- 

 tions within whose borders the assets are lo- 

 cated, whether in the form of church buildings. 

 school properties, or otherwise. This arrange- 

 ment was accepted by most of the union confer- 

 ences. The General Conference Committee was 

 likewise reorganized to meet the new conditions 

 in February, 1892, with such recastings as seemed 

 called for of the Mission Board, the trustees of 

 the Foreign Mission Board (constituting the 

 legal corporation), the educational department, 

 the religious liberty department, the Sabbath- 

 school department, the General Conference As- 

 -ociation, the Auditing Committee, committees 

 on German and on Scandinavian work in North 

 America, and transportation agencie-. 



The European General Conference was organ- 

 ized July 23, 1901. and embraces two union con- 

 ferences the German and the Scandinavian to- 

 with the British and Central European. 



