Untitled article | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · January 17, 1895

Seventh-day Adventists.

THE Independent, of January 3, published under the title, “The Churches in 1894,” short articles, written by representatives of the several churches in the United States, giving denominational progress and events of importance therewith. Under the head, “The Adventists,” Elder O. A. Olsen, President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, reports as follows:—

There are two distinct classes of Adventists, viz., those who observe the first day, and those who observe the seventh day of the week. Among the first class are those who occasionally set time for the second coming of Christ; the second class has never engaged in “time setting,” but earnestly opposes such interpretations of the prophecies. The observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath is a marked peculiarity of Seventh-day Adventists, which distinguishes them from all other denominations, except the Seventh-day Baptists.

Seventh-day Adventists hold positions on the so-called change of the Sabbath which led them to regard Sunday as a rival of the Sabbath of the Lord. The repeated arrests and imprisonments of their members for Sunday labor the past year, in different parts of the United States and Europe, help to demonstrate that Sabbath observance with them is not a matter of convenience, or of choice of days, but a question of loyalty to God. It is often said that these people are not compelled to labor on the seventh day, but to refrain from work on the first day. They reply: “It is with us as with the early Christians: they were not prohibited from worshiping Jehovah; they were simply required to honor the gods of Rome.”

From the above the reader may see that union among the organized branches of Adventists does not at present seem probable. The principles of faith and practice separating the two leading classes of Adventists seem to us as prominent and important as those which distinguish between Protestantism and Catholicism.

As to the question of growth: In this connection I am prepared to make definite statements only with reference to the Seventh-day Adventists, whom I have the honor to represent. From reports in my possession I am enabled to give the following rates of increase for the past year: ordained ministers, 13 per cent.; licensed ministers, 11 per cent.; churches, 7 per cent.; members, 15 per cent.; and missionary funds, 4 per cent.

In many respects the past year has been the most prosperous in our history. This is especially true of our educational, publishing and medical work. Missions have been established in Mexico, Honduras, British Guiana, Argentine, Brazil and Jamaica. Missionaries have been sent to the Gold Coast and to Matabeleland, in Africa, with the view to establishing missionary stations there early the coming year. Preparations are also being made for opening missions, at the earliest possible date, in China and Japan. A large amount of funds has been raised for this purpose.

Our missionary ship “Pitcairn,” sailed from San Francisco last July, on its third voyage, with a load of missionaries and supplies, to be distributed among the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

One of the most encouraging indications for the future of our work is the growing missionary zeal manifesting itself among our young people. There are at present in our colleges and sanitariums about three hundred young men and women who have consecrated themselves “for life or death to arduous, humble service in the dark regions of this last world.”

The prospects for our work were never better than for the coming year.

Although Seventh-day Adventists are one of the small denominations, they have as many students in a single one of their

eight colleges and academies in the United States, as Luther addressed in the University of Wittenberg the day after he burned the pope’s bull. Truth is more important than numbers.