THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS;
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THEIR
ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND PRINCIPLES.
EDITION OF 18778־.
Our field of inquiry leads us back only to the great Advent movement of 1840-44. Respecting that move-ment it is presumed that the public are more or less informed. They may not be so well aware of the causes which have led since that time to the rise of a class of people caHing themselves Seventh-day Adventists.
THE DISAPPOINTMENT.
Adventists looked for the end of the world in 1844, because of the prophecy in Dan. 8:14, which says that at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days the sanctuary should be cleansed. They computed that time to end in that year. They held that the earth was the sanctuary then to be cleansed, and that its cleansing was to be accomplished with fire which would accompany the manifestation of the Lord from heaven. Hence they supposed the Lord would then come. There were, of course, many other facts and arguments in support of the view that the second coming of Christ was near, but what we have stated was the principal argument for fixing upon that particular time for the occurrence of the event.
The time passed, and the coming of Christ did not take place as was expected. It then became apparent that a mistake had been made in one or both of the following
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points: either the period of 2300 days did not end at that time, or the cleansing of the sanctuary was not to be the burning of the earth by fire at the second coming of Christ. While there was a possibility of their being mistaken on both these points, a mistake on either one would be sufficient to account for the fact that the Lord did not then appear.
A movement which had enlisted the whole interest of half a million people, would not of course be abandoned without reflection. The ground was looked over, and two methods adopted for explaining the disappointment. One class jumped to the conclusion at once that they were wrong on time, and the prophetic periods had not ended. Another class, on a careful survey of the whole field, impressed with the strength and harmony of the argument on chronology, saw no ground to change their views upon that point, but became satisfied that the mistake lay in the subject of the sanctuary and its cleansing. This class is now known as Seventh-day Adventists. This brings us to note
THE DIFFERENCE
Between Seventh-day Adventists and First-day or No-day Adventists, as respects chronology. The latter, believing that the prophetic periods were given to make known the time of Christ’s coming, and that they have not yet ended, are held to one of two conclusions : either that all that is said in the Bible about these periods is so much of revelation unrevealed, or else that the time of Christ’s coming is to be known. The first conclusion, as consistent believers in the Bible, they cannot adopt, and hence their continual efforts to re-adjust the prophetic periods and fix upon the time for Christ to
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OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
oome. From this has arisen in these latter years all the fanatical time-setting which has very properly disgusted the world, and worse than this, has brought reproach on prophetical study. On the other hand,
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS SET NO TIME.
They do not believe that any prophetic period given in the Bible reaches to the coming of Christ, or was designed to mark the day or year of that event. As already mentioned, they believe the chronological argu-ment of the great Advent movement of 1844 was all right, locating the termination of the longest prophetic period, the 2300 days, in the autumn of that year. The prophecy said that then the sanctuary should be cleansed. That sanctuary they found to be, not the earth, which is never so called, but the sanctuary of which Paul so fully and definitely treats in his epistle to the Hebrews, “ the sanctuary” and “true tabernacle” in heaven, “which the Lord pitched and not man,” of which Christ, our great High Priest, is minister while “ on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” Heb. 8 :1, 2. The taber-nacle erected by Moses in the wilderness of Sinai about 1500 years before Christ, Ex. 25 and onward, which was the sanctuary of the first covenant, Heb. 9 :1, from that time till the first advent, was a type, figure, or pattern, of this heavenly sanctuary of the new covenant. Heb. 9 :9, 23, 24. The ministration of the sanctuary con-eisted of two grand divisions which were accomplished every year, the daily ministration, and a brief service in the most holy place, or second apartment of the sanct-uary, which completed the yearly round of service. This latter work was called the cleansing of the sanctuary, and was performed by the priest. So likewise the cleansing
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of the heavenly sanctuary, Heb. 9:23, must be per-formed by Christ while yet a priest, before he takes his kingdom and appears in his glory.
The view we take of the prophecy, consequently, is that the termination of the 2300 days in 1844 brought us to the commencement of this last portion of Christ’s work as priest in the true tabernacle above, called the cleans-ing of the sanctuary; not a cleansing from physical im-purities, but from the presence of our sins, imparted to it through the blood of Christ there ministered in our be-half. This explains at once the mistake in 1844, and shows our present position. We are now in the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary; a period of brief but in-definite duration, reaching to Christ’s coming.
While, therefore, we do not throw away the prophetic periods, but believe that they are to be understood, we believe also that they have been correctly interpreted, and have all terminated; so that now we have no data from which to reason respecting a definite time for the Lord to come.
THE SEVENTH DAY.
Two causes have operated to introduce the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among Adventists, and thus to develop that class known as Seventh-day Adventists. *
First, a Seventh-day Baptist sister, Mrs. Rachel D. Preston, from the State of New York, moved to Wash-ington, New Hampshire, where there was a church of Adventists. From them she received the doctrine of the soon-coming of Christ, and in return instructed them in reference to the claims of the fourth commandment of the deoalogue. This was in 1844. Nearly that whole church immediately commenced the observanae of the seventh
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day־, and thus hare the honor of being the first Seventh-day Adventist church in America. The ravages of death, and removals from the place, have considerably dimin-ished their numbers; but the church there still lives to bear witness to the truth thus introduced among them.
The Sabbath question began immediately to be agitated among Adventists, and within a few months, many from their ranks commenced its observance. Among the ear-liest permanent converts to this doctrine, three deserve especial mention : 1. Elder Joseph Bates, who with great zeal, devotion, and self-sacrifice, gave himself to its advo-cacy, and brought many to its observance. He fell asleep March 19, 1872, in the 80th year of his age. 2. Elder James White, the founder and manager, to the present time, of the S. D. Adventist publishing work, and now president of their five leading organizations; namely, The General Conference, The Publishing Association, The Health Reform Institute, The General Tract and Mis-sionary Society, and the Educational Society. 3. Elder J. N. Andrews, author of the “ History of the Sabbath,” and other important works, and now a missionary to Switzerland in Europe, where he is publishing extensively in the French and German languages.
Secondly, another cause which has tended to strengthen them in the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is the subject of the sanctuary, to which we have already alluded. It was seen at once that the central object in the sanctuary, in whichever dispensation we view it, is the ark of God, which was enshrined in the most holy place. This ark was prepared expressly as a receptacle for the tables of stone on which were written the great moral precepts of God’s government, the ten commandments. Thus atten-iion was called to the law of God. It was also seen that
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if the law in the ark of the heavenly sanctuary, Rev. 11: 19, is the great original, and that deposited in the typical sanctuary was only a copy, or transcript, that law must read the same now as it read then, and the idea of any change is placed beyond the range of possibilities; that heaven and earth, as Christ in his first sermon declared, would sooner pass than one jot or tittle would pass from the law; and that the fourth commandment requires of the people in the present dispensation what it demanded of those of former dispensations from Elen down, the observance of the seventh day of the week, as the grand and glorious memorial of creation at the hands of God.
THEIR PUBLISHING WORK.
This, as already stated, originated through the instru-mentality of Elder James White. Elder W. was born in Palmyra, Maine, in 1821. Commencing at the age of twenty, he labored with much success as a public speaker in the great Advent movement of 1840-44; and when the claims of the Sabbath were brought to his notice, he entered as heartily into the work of its defense and pro-mulgation. He began the work of publishing in 1849. In November, 1850, he commenced the publication of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, the organ of the S. D. Adventists.
To accommodate his publishing work to the field of his operations as a traveling evangelist, the paper was issued first at Paris, Maine, till June, 1851, then at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., till March, 1852. It was then removed to Rochester, N. Y., where it continued nearly four years. Then the cause of Sabbath reform rapidly advancing west-ward, its present location, Battle Creek, Mich., was selected as a more central position, and the paper was
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OP SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
moved to that place in November, 1855. Up to this time Elder White was publisher and sole editor. Some of the time since then, others have been associated with him on the editorial board.
The wants of the cause demanding an enlargement of operations, and the employment of more capital in the publishing business, an Act of the Legislature of Mich־ igan, for the Incorporation of Associations for Publishing Purposes, was secured and approved March 7, 1861. Under that Act a legally incorporated Association, under the name of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Asso-ciation, was organized in Battle Creek, May 3, 1861. They immediately erected a two-story brick building in the form of a Greek .cross, the main portion 26x66, the transverse section 26x44, for the publishing work. In 1871 a second building of the same size and form was erected to meet the necessities of the increasing business. And in 1873 a third buMding of the same kind was built for the same reason. These all stand, side by side, opposite the public square at the corner of Main and Washington Streets. In the last-named building is located the bindery, furnished with improved modern machinery for the manufacture of blank books and all branches and varieties of book-binding.
The different periodicals issued by the Association, the titles of which are given below, have an aggregate monthly circulation of above 40,000 copies.
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, weekly.
Youth!8 Instructor, monthly.
Health Reformer, monthly.
Advent Tidende, Danish, monthly.
Advent Harold, Swedish, monthly.
College Record, quarterly.
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Books on the prophecies and other Bible subjects have been issued largely from the beginning, and have now reached an aggregate of about two hundred millions of pages.
From fifty to seventy hands are regularly employed in the work, and the capital invested is over one hun-dred thousand dollars.
These results, wrought out in so short a time, are the only compliment that need to be paid to him under whose management this degree of prosperity has been attained. Those acquainted with the business career of Elder White have observed two strongly developed traits of character: zeal to push forward in the formation and execution of plans for the advancement of the work, and caution to avoid injudicious and reckless ventures. The union of these two qualities, regulating at once the amount of steam and the application of brakes, has made him mas-ter of the situation in the publishing line, and has given to the enterprise, though moving forward rapidly, a healthy and permanent growth.
ORGANIZATION OP CHURCHES.
This is exceedingly simple. A body of believers asso-ciate together, taking the name of Seventh-day Advent-ists, and attaching their names to a covenant simply to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The Bible is their only creed. A clerk is chosen to keep the records of the church, and an elder, elected by vote of the church, is ordained to look after its spiritual inter-ests. If the church is large, its temporal affairs are assigned to one or more deacons, chosen by vote of the church for this purpose. They hold that the Greek terms for elder, bishop, and pastor, signify the same officer,
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OP SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
which is a local officer, confined to a particular church. These need not be ordained ministers. Evangelists are ordained ministers, who travel from place to place to preach the gospel, and are the only ones competent to ordain local elders and deacons.
NUMBERS.
They now number over 450 churches with an enrollment of more than 11,000 members. But owing to the scat-tered condition of this people, a large proportion of them are not so situated as to belong to any of the church organizations, single families being scattered all the way from Maine to California and Oregon, in all the Northern States, and in many of the Southern. The whole num-ber is estimated at 20,000. The number of ordained ministers is one hundred, and licentiates, ninety None of the churches have pastors stationed with them. They maintain their worship without the aid of a preacher, only as one may occasionally visit them, leaving the min-isters free to devote almost their whole time to carrying these views to those who have never heard upon them. During the summer months they carry forward their work by means of large tents 40 to 60 feet in diameter. About fifty of these have been in use the past season, 1877.
CONFERENCES.
The next advance in organization from single churches, is the State Conference. The churches in a 3tate com-bine to form a State Conference, adopting a constitution to regulate their action. All the ministers in the State are, by virtue of their office, members of the State Con-ference, and each church is entitled to delegates accord-ing to its membership. At each annual meeting an executive committee of three is elected by vote of the delegates,, of whom the president of the Conference is chairman. This committee have supervision of all the ministerial and religious work of the Conference between the yearly meetings, and appoint the delegates to the General Conference.
S. D. Adventists now have sixteen State Conferences
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as follows: Maine, New England (including in this divis-ion only New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut), Vermont, New York and Pennsylva-nia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Min-nesota, Iowa and Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee, Kansas, California, and Oregon.
The next outward sweep from the State Conferences is the General Conference. This is composed of dele-gates, ministers or laymen, from all the State Confer-ences. This Conference also annually elects its executive committee of three, to have charge of the doings of the denomination in all parts of the field. The president of the General Conference is the highest officer in the body. The object of the General Conference is to unify the work in all localities, equalize labor, and supply destitute fields with help. The meeting of the General Confer-ence held in Lansing, Mich., Sept. 20, 1877, was its six-teenth annual session.
FUNDS.
Means to sustain the work are raised by a plan denom-inated Systematic Benevolence, founded on the instruc-tions of Paul in 1 Cor. 16:2. By this system it is designed that every one shall, upon each first day of the week, lay by a sum equal, as near as may be, to one*tenth of his income from whatever source. There is nothing compulsory in this matter; yet all this people, with few exceptions, have adopted, and are acting upon, this plan. According to this system, contributions being propor-tioned to the amount of property one possesses, or the strength and ability with which he is blessed for acquir-ing, none are burdened. It treats the rich and poor alike in proportion to their ability, while a steady stream is thus poured into the treasury. For the year 1877, the amount raised in this manner in all the Confer-ences was about $50,000.
Each church appoints its collector and treasurer, who once a month, or in rural districts once a quarter, gathers up these contributions. With the exception of a small percentage retained by some of the churches for their
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own use, these funds are sent by the church treasurers to the State Conference Treasurer. At each yearly meeting of the Conference, an auditing committee is appointed, which examines the accounts of all the minis-ters in the employ of the Conference, and settles with each one according to the amount of labor performed. Of the funds remaining in the State treasury after such settlement, the Conference votes such amount as it sees proper to the General Conference, which is then put into the hands of the Gen. Conf. Treasurer, to be expended under the direction of the Gen. Conf. Committee.
THE HEALTH REFORM.
The attention of S. D Adventists was called to the subject of Christian Temperance by the writings of Mrs. E. G. White, wife of Elder James White, about the year 1862. The importance of this subject was at once seen and confessed from the well-ascertained, and now generally acknowledged, connection between the body and the mind. A person’s moral and physical nature is largely affected by his physical condition. It was there-fore seen that success in appealing to man’s higher and spiritual nature is much more certain if he can be turned from wrong habits of life, which undermine the physical, and benumb the moral, powers. In this sense the health reform lies at the foundation of all reform.
The system, as at present advocated and practiced among this people, banishes the use of tobacco in any and all of its forms, none addicted to its use being received into the churches except upon the promise and expectation of its immediate abandonment. The result is that, as a denomination, the sight and scent of tobacco is not found among this people. It excludes from the dietary, pork, tea, and coffee. Rich and highly seasoned food is discarded. Grease and spices take a back seat in the culinary department. Meat of any kind is but rarely used. Two meals only a day are considered pref-erable for most people, those to be composed of grains, fruits, and vegetables, served up, however, in any of the great variety of their palatable forms.
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But the health reform embraces not only right meth-ods of living, but the right means of recovery from sick-ness. Being impressed with the great evils of the drug system, the friends of this movement felt so great an interest in the matter that steps were taken in 1866 for the establishment of an Institute, to whieh persons might resort not only to learn more fully the principles of the hygienic system, but also for the recovery of health. A high and beautiful site of twenty acres, about sixty rods north of the publishing buildings in Battle Creek, was purchased, buildings were added to those already on the ground, and the “ Health Reform Institute ” was opened for the reception of patients and boarders, Sep-tember 5, 1866.
An act of the Michigan Legislature was procured, and a legally incorporated Association was formed April 6,1867.
A subscriptien of twenty-six thousand dollars was raised, which has since increased by additional subscrip־ tions and the workings of the institution to about forty thousand.
Increasing patronage demanding more facilities, a mammoth building is now in process of erection, 150x 137 feet, four stories in hight above the basement. It is provided with an elevator, and all modern improve-ments for the convenience and comfort of patients. It is heated with steam and lighted with gas. The cost will not fall much short of ninety thousand dollars. The dedication of the building will take place within a few weeks of the present writing, or about the first of March, 1878.
The Health Reformer ן published in the interests of this institution, and in advocacy of health reform principles, was started in August, 1866. It has now attained the largest circulation, of any health journal in America.
The Health Reform Institute, though founded and managed by S. D. Adventists, is not conducted on a denominational basis. All believers in the Bible, to whatever denomination they belong, are made equally welcome, and made to feel equally at home, their relig-ious belief being in no way interfered with.
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The health reform ends not with diet alone, but extends to all the habits of life; and as the health of the body is effected, to a great extent, by the manner in which it is clothed, that subject occupies a prominent place in this system. The fashionable female attire of the present day is held to be chargeable with at least three leading evils as related to health: First, hanging burdens in an unnatural manner upon the body; secondly, hindering the full play of the vital organs; thirdly, insufficiently protecting the extremities. · A style of dress has been proposed, by this people, designed to remedy these evils. Its principal features are the follow-ing: Shortening the skirt till it fully clears the filth and obstructions of the street, fitting the garments loosely around the waist, suspending the garments from the shoulders, and thoroughly protecting the limbs with a covering of the same material as the dress. All thought-ful people must be in sympathy with the ends which it is proposed to secure.
Excepting only the grosser indulgence of tobacco-using, the principles of the health reform are not regarded as determining the question of church fellowship. It is recommended as that without which it is impossible to secure the best condition of bodily health; and it is sup-posed that all who are conscientiously endeavoring to serve God, desiring to glorify him not only in their spirits, but in their bodies, which are equally his, will, for this reason, adopt and live out its principles.
MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
Public speakers being few, in comparison with the oalls for labor, a plan has been devised designed to give all an opportunity to act some part in the promulgation of our views. This organization is called the Tract and Missionary Society.
In this organization, the State is divided into districts, each district being composed of a certain number of churches, adjacent to each other. For each district a director is appointed, who appoints a librarian for each church in his district, to take charge of distributing tracts
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to the members, and a district secretary to keep an account of the whole working of the district. The dis-trict directors, a president, secretary, and treasurer, con-stitute the officers of each State T. and M. Society. This society has now been organized in each of the six-teen State Conferences.
These societies then unite and form a General Tract and Missionary Society, with its proper officers.
The object of this organization is to systematically canvass the country with books, tracts and pamphlets, setting forth the things we hold to be special truths for this time, to obtain subscribers for our various period!־ cals, visit the sick, call upon, and converse and pray with, families and individuals; and the general organi-zation is designed to seek out openings and supply calls for help, in all the world.
This Tract and Missionary organization is quite recent, the present year, 1878, being only the fifth year with most of the State societies. Yet the funds raised for the work of this Society now amount to over $100,000, and during the past year reports show that between four and five millions of pages of reading matter have been dis-tributed, mostly given away, thousands of bound volumes placed in public libraries, nearly ten thousand familes visited and prayed with, while publications have been sent to England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and to every missionary station on the coast of Africa.
IN OTHER TONGUES.
Missions are now in successful operation among the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, and French, in this country. The Danish and Swedish papers have already been noticed. Our catalogue of publications now embrace thirteen different works in French, twenty-one in Dan-ish, fifteen in Swedish, thirteen in German, and one in the Holland language, besides the two monthlies in the Danish and Swedish languages. A good beginning is thus made in the occupation of the field assigned to this message, which is to go to “many peoples, nations,
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tongues, and kings.” A monthly in French has been issued more than a year in Switzerland, and a monthly in German is in contemplation.
Our views have also gained a permanent foothold in other countries of Europe. There are now some four hundred believers in Europe. Two of their number have been sent to this country to learn the English language, and become more fully instructed in S. D. Adventists' views. September 15, 1874, Elder J. N. Andrews left this country for that field of labor. December 25, 1875, Elder D. T. Bourdeau left his work in America to join Elder Andrews in the European mission field, where he arrived January 7, 1876. November 17, 1877, three others went from America to assist Elder Andrews in the work in Europe, arriving in December following.
Elder J. Ertzenberger, one of the two referred to as having visited this country, is laboring successfully in Germany where there is now a body of Sabbath-keepers. Dr. Kibton is laboring successfully in Italy, and is gather-ing noble souls about him. He calls for a monthly and other publications in Italian which will soon be issued.
Sabbath-keepers have also been discovered in Holland, Hungary, and Russia.
CAMP-MEETINGS.
The first camp-meeting of S. D. Adventists was held under the management of Elders White and Andrews, in the town of Wright, Mich., September 1-7, 1868. The results of this meeting were so encouraging that the plan of holding meetings of this kind during the summer months was soon generally adopted among this people. The past season two camp-meetings were held in each of the Confer-ences of New York, Iowa, Missouri, and California, and one each in ten other Conferences, making eighteen in all. At the Michigan meeting, held in Lansing, Mich., Sep-tember 18 to October 1, there were one hundred and forty tents, and, including all who were present during some portion of the meeting, about two thousand persons permanently encamped on the ground. Others lodging away from the ground, but daily attending the meeting,
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swelled the number in daily attendance to nearly or quite twenty-five hundred. This was the largest company of Christian observers of the seventh day known to have assembled since apostolic times.
These meetings, as conducted by S. D. Adventists, are designed to be occasions of great spiritual profit to all who attend, promoting a revival spirit, and deep and vital piety. Complete order is maintained, proper hours for rest are secured, and everything passes off with as much order and decorum as would be observed in a house of worship.
The mammoth Michigan tent, 80x120 feet, was pitched at the Lansing meeting above referred to. A similar tent, 80x125 feet, owned by the New England Confer-ence, was erected at the camp-meeting in Groveland, Mass.
Full reports of all the meetings have been published in over one hundred leading papers in all parts of the country.
THE PACIFIC COAST.
In 1868, Elders J. N. Loughborough and D. T. Bour-deau were sent by the General Conference on a mission to California, and, with a large tent taken with them, com-menced the work. From this point the cause of Seventh-day Adventism has grewn quite rapidly on this coast. In 1872, Elder White and wife visited this State, and aided in organizing a State Conference. They again vis-ited California in the latter part of 1873, remaining until August, 1874. On this visit, perceiving that the grow-ing cause in that distant locality needed a medium of communication nearer than the publishing house in Mich-igan, Elder W. commenced the publication of the Signs of the Times, at Oakland, Cal., the first number of which was issued June, 4, 1874. It was started as a weekly, the same size as the Review and Herald. The wants of the cause, and the action of the General Conference of August 10,1874, calling Brother White east, the Cali-fomia Conference assumed the publication of the Signs. At their camp-meetins at Yountville, October 1-12,1874, nineteen thousand dollars were pledged for this purpose, and since paid.
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April 5, 1875, an Association, called the Pacific Sev-enth-day Adventist Publishing Association, was incorpo-rated, to carry forward the publishing work there. The Signs is already attaining a large circulation.
As indicating the progress of the cause in California, it may be stated that, at the two camp-meetings held this season, there weie one hundred and twenty-two tents pitched, and six hundred and seventy-five Sabbath-keepers were upon the ground. The churches belonging to this Conference now number nineteen.
A new Conference composed of Oregon and Washing-ton Territory, has just been organized.
THE EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY.
The subject of education among S. D. Adventists and the founding of a denominational school, was brought to the attention of this people by Elder James White and wife, in the early part of 1872, and several meetings at their call were held in Battle Creek, Mich. May 11, 1872, the matter was put into the hands of the General Conference Committee, who, during the summer and autumn of 1873, solicited subscriptions to this enterprise, obtaining pledges for nearly fifty-five thousand dollars.
March 16, 1874, an Association was formed, under the law of Michigan “ for the incorporation of institutions of learning,״ and ground was broken in May, for the erec-tion of a suitable school building. The site is a beautiful plot of twelve acres, in the highest part of the city, oppo-site the grounds of the Health Institute. The building, of brick, 37x71, with two hall wingr, each 17x37, three stories high, capable of accommodating between four and five hundred students, was opened for use January 4,1875.
The school itself had been in progress, in such accom-modations as it could secure, for some two years before.
The first annual catalogue, issued in 1875, showed an aggregate attendance during the year of 289; the sec-ond, issued in 1876, showed, an attendance the preceding year of 267. The number now attending is between three and four hundred.
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FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF S. D. ADVENTISTS.
As already stated, S. D. Adventists have no creed but the Bible; but they hold to certain well defined points of faith, for which they feel prepared to give a reason to every man that asketh them. The following propositions may be taken as a summary of the principal features of their religious faith, upon which there is, so far as we know, entire unanimity throughout the body. They believe:—
I.	That there is one God, a personal, spiritual being, the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, and eter-nal, infinite in wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and mercy ; unchangeable, and everywhere present by his representative, the Holy Spirit. Ps. 139:7.
II.	That there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, by whom God created all things, and by whom they do consist; that he took on him the nature of the seed of Abraham for the redemption of our fallen race; that he dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, lived our example, died our sacrifice, was raised for our justification, ascended on high to be our only mediator in the sanctuary in Heaven, where, with his own blood, he makes atonement for our sins; which atonement, so far from being made on the cross, which was but the offering of the sacrifice, is the very last portion of his work as priest, according to the example of the Levitical priest-hood, which foreshadowed and prefigured the ministry of our Lord in Heaven. See Lev. 16; Heb. 8 : 4, 5; 9 :6, 7.
III.	That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, contain a full revelation of his will to man, and are the only infalli-ble rule of faith and practice.
IV.	That baptism is an ordinance of the Christian church, to follow faith and repentance, an ordinance by which we commemorate the resurrection of Christ, as by this act we show our faith in his burial and resurrection, and through that, in the resurrection of all the saints at the last day; and that no other mode fitly represents these facts than that which the Scriptures prescribe, namely, immersion, Bom. 6: 35־ ; Col. 2:12.
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OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
V.	That the new birth comprises the entire change necessary to fit us for the kingdom of God, and consists of two parts : First, a moral change, wrought by conver-sion and a Christian life; secondly, a physical change at the second coming of Christ, whereby, if dead, we are raised incorruptible, and, if living, are changed to immor-talityin a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. John 3:3, 5; Luke 20 : 36 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 51, 52.
VI.	We believe that prophecy is a part of God’s reve-lation to man; that it is included in that scripture which is profitable for instruction; 2 Tim. 3:16; that it is designed for us and our children ; Deut. 29:29; that so far from being enshrouded in impenetrable mystery, it is that which especially constitutes the word of God a lamp to our feet and a light to our path ; Ps. 119 :105 ; 2 Pet. 1:19; that a blessing is pronounced upon those who study it; Rev. 1:1-3 ׳ ; and that, consequently, it is to be understood by the people of God, sufficiently to show them their position in the world’s history, and the special duties required at their hands.
VII.	That the world’s history from specified dates in the past, the rise and fall of empires, and chronological succession of events down to the setting up of God’s ever-lasting kingdom, are outlined in numerous great chains of prophecy; and that these prophecies are now all ful-fille'd except the closing scenes.
VIII.	That the doctrine of the world’s conversion and temporal millennium is a fable of these last days, calcu-lated to lull men into a state of carnal security, and cause them to be overtaken by the great day of the Lord as by a thief in the night; that the second coming of Christ is to precede, not follow, the millennium; for until the Lord appears, the papal power, with all its abominations, is to continue, the wheat and tares grow together, and evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, as the word of God declares.
IX.	That the mistake of Adventists in 1844 pertained to the nature of the event then to transpire, not to the time; that no prophetic period is given to reach to the
PROGRESS AND PRINCIPLES
20
second advent, but that the longest one, the two thousand and three hundred days of Dan. 8:14, terminated in that year and brought us to an event called the cleansing of the sanctuary.
X.	That the sanctuary of the new covenant is the tab-emacle of God in Heaven, of which Paul speaks in He-brews 8, and onward, of which our Lord, as great High Priest, is minister; that this sanctuary is the antitype of the Mosaic tabernacle, and that the priestly work of our Lord, connected therewith, is the antitype of the work of the Jewish priests of the former dispensation; Heb. 8: 1-5, etc.; that this is the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, what is termed its cleansing being in this case, as in the type, simply the entrance of the high priest into the most holy place, to finish the round of service connected therewith, by blotting out and remov-ing from the sanctuary the sins which had been trans-ferred to it by means of the ministration in the first apart-ment; Heb. 9 :22, 23 ; and that this work, in the anti-type, commencing in 1844, occupies a brief but indefinite space, at the conclusion of which the work of mercy for the world will be finished, and the second advent of Christ will take place.
XL That God’s moral requirements are the same upon all men in all dispensations; that these are summarily contained in the commandments spoken by Jehovah from Sinai, engraven on the tables of stone, and deposited in the ark, which was in consequence called the “ ark of the covenant,” or testament; Num. 10:33; Heb. 9:4; that this law is immutable and perpetual, being a transcript of the tables deposited in the ark in the true sanctuary on high, which is also, for the same reason, called the ark of God’s testament; for under the sounding of the seventh trumpet we are told that “ the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Bev. 11:19.
XII. That the fourth commandment of this law requires that we devote the seventh day of each week, commonly called Saturday, to abstinence from our own labor, ]and to the performance of sacred and religious
21
OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
duties; that this is the only weekly Sabbath known to the Bible, being the day that was set apart before para-dise was lost, Gen. 2 :2, 3, and which will be observed in paradise restored, Isa. 66:22, 23; that the facts upon which the Sabbath institution is based confine it to the seventh day, as they are not true of any other day; and that the terms Jewish Sabbath and Christian Sabbath, as applied to the weekly rest-day, are names of human invention, unscriptural in fact, and false in meaning.
XIII. That, as the man of sin, the papacy, has thought to change times and laws (the law of God), Dan. 7 :25, and has misled almost all Christendom in regard to the fourth commandment, we find a prophecy of a reform in this respect to be wrought among believers just before the coming of Christ. Isa. 56 :1,2; 1 Pet. 1:5; Rev. 14:12, etc.
XIY. That, as the natural or carnal heart is at enmity with God and his law, this enmity can be subdued only by a radical transformation of the affections, the exchange of unholy for holy principles; that this transformation follows repentance and faith, is the special work of the Holy Spirit, and constitutes regeneration, or conversion.
XY. That as all have violated the law of God and cannot of themselves render obedience to his just require-ments, we are dependent on Christ, first, for justification from our past offenses, and, secondly, for grace whereby to render acceptable obedience to his holy law in time to come.
XYI. That the Spirit of God was promised to mani-fest itself in the church through certain gifts, enumerated especially in 1 Cor. 12, and Eph. 4; that these gifts are not designed to supersede, or take the place of, the Bible, which is sufficient to make us wise unto salvation, any more than the Bible can take the place of the Holy Spirit; that, in specifying the various channels of its operation, that, Spirit has simply made provision for its own existence and presence with the people of God to the end of time, to lead to an understanding of that word which it had inspired, to convince of sin, and work a
PROGRESS AND PRINCIPLES
22
transformation in the heartland life; and that those who deny to the Spirit its place and operation do plainly deny that part of the Bible which assigns to it this work and position.
XYII. That God, in accordance with his uniform deal-ings with the race, sends forth a proclamation of the approach of the second advent of Christ; that this work is symbolized by the three messages of Rev. 14, the last one bringing to view the work of reform on the law of God, that his people may acquire a complete readiness for that event.
XVIII.	That the time of the cleansing of the sanctu-ary (see proposition 10), synchronizing with the time of the proclamation of the third message, is a time of inves-tigative judgment, first, with reference to the dead, and, at the close of probation, with reference to the living, to determine who of the myriads now sleeping in the dust of the earth are worthy of a part in the first resurrection, and who of its living multitudes are worthy of transla-tion—points which must be determined before the Lord appears.
XIX.	That the grave, whither we all tend., expressed by the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, is a place of darkifess in which there is no work, device, wisdom, nor knowledge. Eccl. 9 :10.
XX.	That the state to which we are reduced by death is one of silence, inactivity, and entire unconsciousness. Ps. 146 :4; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Dan. 12:2, etc.
XXI.	That out of this prison-house of the grave, man-kind are to be brought by a bodily resurrection; the righteous having part in the first resurrection, which takes place at the second coming of Christ; the wicked in the second resurrection, which takes place a thousand years thereafter. Rev. 20 : 4-6.
XXII.	That at the last trump, the living righteous are to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with the resurrected righteous are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so forever to be with the Lord.
XXIII.	That these immortalized ones are then taken
23
OP SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
to Heaven, to the New Jerusalem, the Father’s house in which there are many mansions, John 14 :1-3, where they reign with Christ a thousand years, judging the world and fallen angels, that is,s apportioning the punish-ment to be executed upon them at the close of the one thousand years; Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6 :2, 3; that dur-ing this time the earth lies in a desolate and chaotic condition, Jer. 4 :20-27, described, as in the beginning, by the Greek term abussos, bottomless pit (Septuagint of Gen. 1:2); and that here Satan is confined during the thousand years; Rev. 20:1, 2; and here finally de-stroyed; Rev. 20:10; Mai. 4:1; the theater of the ruin he has wrought in the universe, being appropriately made for a time his gloomy prison-house, and then the place of his final execution.
XXIV.	That at the end of the thousand years, the Lord descends with his people and the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:2, the wicked dead are raised and come up upon the surface of the yet unrenewed earth, and gather about the city, the camp of the saints, Rev. 20:9, and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. They are then consumed root and branch, Mai. 4:1, becoming as though they had not been. Obad. 15, 16. In this everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thess. 1: 9, the wicked meet the everlasting punishment threatened against them. Matt. 25 :46. This is the perdition of ungodly men, the fire that con-sumes them being the fire for which “ the heavens and the earth which are now” are kept in store, which shall meh even the elements with its intensity, and purge the earth from the deepest stains of the curse of sin. 2 Pet.
.12־7 :3
XXV.	That new heavens and a new earth shall spring by the power of God from the ashes of the old, and this renewed earth, with the New Jerusalem for its metropo-lie and capital, shall be the eternal inheritance of the saints, the place where the righteous shall evermore dwell. 2 Pet. 3:13; Ps. 37 :11, 29; Matt. 5 : 5..
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