THE thirty-eighth session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is now convened in Washington, D. C. They met on May 15, and the meetings will continue until June 8. A large delegation is in attendance from every quarter of the world, some seventy different nations being represented. The reports from the officers of the conference, as well as from those in charge of the various subdivisions or union conferences throughout the world, show a very prosperous condition. During the four years since our last General Conference met, there has been the greatest growth in the history of the people. The treasurer’s report showed an increase in tithes and offerings for the year 1912 over those of 1908 of more than $500,000. This was a gain of more than fifty per cent. In addition to this increase in tithes, the increase in offerings to foreign missions amounted practically to one hundred per cent; or, in other words, we gave double the amount to foreign missions in the year 1912 that was given in the year 1908, the year just before the General Conference of 1909.
In like manner, the report from the Educational Department showed a big increase in the number of young men and young women who are attending our schools to fit themselves for work in the various fields. The constant call for recruits in all lands to give the great message of the soon coming of Christ is appealing to our young men and young women, and drawing them in large numbers into the good work.
The reports from the Publishing Department show a tremendous increase in the circulation of our literature. The total amount of literature circulated in the first fifty-eight years of the history of our publishing work, or down till the close of 1902, amounted to $6,647,500. From the beginning of 1903 till the close of 1912 we circulated $11,036,000 worth of publications. In other words, we circulated almost twice as much literature in the last ten years as we circulated in the first fifty-eight years. The value of the publications circulated in the one year of 1912, which was the last and the greatest year of our history, amounted to $1,836,500. The stakes are set for a strong increase in 1913; and certainly with the all-inspiring and important message that we have to give to this world, our future history will be the same as that of the past. It will show phenomenal and vigorous growth.
Delegates and visitors to the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference from the Asiatic Division
Delegates and visitors to the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference from Africa
The Sabbath-school Department, the sanitarium work, and the work of the young people’s societies, all told the same story of progress and earnestness which mark the growth and prosperity that should be expected among a people who have such thrilling tidings to proclaim to the world. As is well known to the subscribers of this paper, two of the great leading doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists are the soon coming of Christ and the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. The doctrine of the soon coming of Christ is fortified by a great chorus of prophetic voices that are sounding in the most distinct tones from God’s word. The seventh-day Sabbath is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. It is the Sabbath of the Bible all the way through, and it is the great memorial of the work of the infinite Creator.
The proper observance of the Sabbath leads the worshiper, as nothing else will, to a realizing sense of the great truth that God created the heavens and the earth. And in view of the fact that the world is soon to be visited by the personal presence of the mighty Creator at His second coming, the observance of the Sabbath, which commemorates His creative power, is filled with importance, and has a charm about it that is absolutely indescribable. It is necessary for an individual to enter into these experiences to know the joys that well up in the soul as the heart is thrilled with the thought of the speedy fulfilment of the promise of standing face to face with the great Creator, clothed in righteousness and immortality. Eternal joy awaits every soul who is preparing for this thrilling and indescribably glorious event.
