The Seventh-day Adventists.
By Uriah Smith
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THEIR ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PRINCIPLES.
THIS, as already stated, originated through the instrumentality of Eld. James White. Eld. W. was born in Palmyra, Me., in 1821. Commencing at the age of 20, he labored with much success as a public speaker in the great Advent movement of 1840–4; and when the claims of the Sabbath were brought to his notice, he entered as heartily into the work of its defense and promulgation. He began the work of publishing in 1849. In November, 1850, he commenced the publication of the ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD OF THE SABBATH, 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, Me., till June, 1851, then at Saratoga Springs 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 westward, its present location, Battle Creek, Mich., was selected as a more central position, and the paper was moved to this place in November, 1855. Up to this time Eld. 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 Michigan, 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 Association, 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 building 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 Sts. A two-story wooden building used as the sole printing office of the REVIEW & HERALD, before the formation of the Association, but now moved to the rear and used as a book-bindery, completes the list of buildings at present employed in the publishing department. The titles of the different periodicals issued by the Association, and their circulation at present writing, Nov., 1874, stand as follows:—
ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD OF THE SABBATH, weekly, 5700
Youth's Instructor, monthly, 5200
True Missionary, monthly, 4800
Health Reformer, monthly, 7800
Advent Tidende, Danish, monthly, 1900
Advent Harold, Swedish, monthly, 1900 Books on the prophecies, and other Bible subjects have been issued largely from the beginning, and have now reached an aggregate of about one hundred millions of pages. Sixty-six hands are regularly employed in the work, and the capital invested is over one hundred thousand dollars. These results, wrought out in so short a time, are the only compliment that need be paid to him under whose management this degree of prosperity has been attained. Those acquainted with the business career of Eld. 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 the brakes, has made him the master of the situation in the publishing line, and has given to the enterprise, though moving forward rapidly, a healthy and permanent growth. This is exceedingly simple. A body of believers associate together, taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, 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 interests. If the church is large, its temporal affairs are assigned to one or more deacons chosen by vote of the church for this purpose. Elder, bishop and pastor, Greek, (presbuteros, episcopos, and poimen,) signify in their vocabulary, the same officer and that 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. They now number 291 churches with an enrollment of about 7500 members. But owing to the scattered 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 number is estimated at from twelve to fifteen thousand.. The number of ordained ministers is 60, and licentiates 67. None of the churches have pastors established with them. They maintain their worship without the aid of a preacher, only as one may occasionally visit them, leaving the ministers 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. Thirty-four of these have been in use in all the States the past season. The next advance in organization from single churches, is the State Conference. The churches in a State combine to form a State Conference, adopting a constitution to regulate their action. Each church is entitled to delegates according 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. S. D. Adventists now have thirteen State Conferences as follows: Maine, New England (including only New Hampshire), Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut), Vermont, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri & Nebraska, and California. The next outward sweep from the State Conferences is the General Conference. 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 Conference held in Battle Creek, Aug. 10, 1874, was its thirteenth annual session. Means to sustain the work are raised by a plan denominated Systematic Benevolence, founded on the instructions 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 the increase of their property from whatever source of income. 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 proportioned to the amount of property one possesses, or the strength and ability with which he is blessed for acquiring, 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 1874, the amount raised in this manner in all the Conferences, was $37,181.56. 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 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 ministers 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 attention of S. D. Adventists was called to the subject of Christian temperance by the writings of Mrs. E. G. White, wife of Eld. 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 spiritual nature is largely affected by his physical condition. It was therefore seen that success in appealing to men's higher and spiritual nature, is much more certain if they 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, coffee, and rich and highly seasoned food. 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 preferable 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. But the health reform embraces not only right methods of living, but the right means of recovery from sickness. 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 which 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 eight acres about sixty rods north of the publishing buildings, 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, Sept. 5, 1866. An act of the Michigan Legislature was procured, and a legally incorporated Association was formed, April 6, 1867. A subscription of twenty-six thousand dollars was raised, which has since increased by additional subscriptions and the workings of the institution to forty-two thousand. The Health Reformer published in the interest of this institution, and in advocacy of health reform principles, was started in August, 1866. It has now attained to a circulation, as noted above, of 7800 copies monthly. 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 religious belief being in no way interfered with. The health reform ends not with diet alone, but extends to all the habits of life, and to that which has a great bearing on the health of the body; that is, the manner in which it is clothed. 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 is proposed, and to a large extent adopted among this people, designed to remedy these evils. It consists of 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. However the appearance of this dress may strike the beholder, all thoughtful 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 supposed that all who are conscientiously endeavoring to serve God, desiring to glorify him in their bodies, as well as their spirits which are equally his, will for this reason, adopt and live out its principles.