I. As a crime adultery is unknown to the common course does not exist in case of an absolute divorce, and law, and its punishment depends wholly upon the the offence is never punishable merely under the genstatutory law, which is silent upon the subject in Del-eral law against adultery. It may be remarked also aware, Idaho Territory, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ten- that the prohibition against remarriage has no extranessee, and Utah. Unless otherwise defined by statute, territorial effect, and will not invalidate the marriage adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse of a mar- of either party out of the State in which it exists. ried person with one to whom he or she is not married, The effect of adultery of either husband or wife upon but in the statutes of many of the States the term is the legitimacy of the children of the marriage is affirmaused with great latitude of signification. In Arkansas, tively provided against in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Nevada, and New York it is only punishable when in- Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, cestuous, and in Arizona Territory when incestuous or and Texas, the laws of which declare that the legitiwhen committed by divorced persons with each other, macy of the children shall not be affected. By the In the States of Florida, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, and statute of New Hampshire the children are legitimate Rhode Island it is provided that if one of the parties to unless it is otherwise expressed in the decree. In case the act be married, both are guilty of the crime. In of a divorce for the adultery of the wife in Arizona Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Oregon, and Territory, Michigan, and Nebraska it is provided that Wisconsin both are guilty if the woman be married, the legitimacy of the children may be determined by although the man be unmarried; and the law is the the court, but in the case of children begotten before same in Vermont if the man be married and the woman the commencement of the suit it shall in every case unmarried. In Arizona Territory, Maine, Massachu- be presumed; while in California, Dakota, and Idaho setts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Wisconsin Territory this presumption extends only to those chilit is made adultery for persons divorced from the bond dren born or begotten before the act complained of; of matrimony for whatever cause to cohabit; in New but in California and Dakota, when the husband has Jersey it is only so called when the parties have been been the offender, children begotten at any time before divorced for adultery or a prior marriage. In Connec- the commencement of the suit are unaffected. Wherticut, Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, ever the law is silent upon the subject the legitimacy Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hamp- is open to investigation, but there is the usual preshire, Oregon, Pennnsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West sumption in its favor so long as the marriage relation Virginia, and Wisconsin a single act is sufficient to exists. constitute the crime; while in Alabama, California, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana Territory, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas it is necessary that there shall have been continued cohabitation; and in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, and Washington Territory this must also be open and notorious. In Colorado, Georgia, and Illinois the punishment for adultery (so called) may be suspended by the marriage of the guilty parties if no legal impediment exist, in which case, of course, the offence would not have been adultery in its original technical sense. The punishment for the crime of adultery ranges in severity from a fine of $10 in Maryland to a possible imprisonment for five years, together with a fine of $1000, in Vermont. In Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon no prosecution can be commenced but on the complaint of the aggrieved husband or wife, and in the three lastnamed States within one year from the time of the commission of the offence or (in Oregon) the time when it shall have come to the knowledge of such husband or wife.

vorce.

II. In its civil aspect the definition of adultery already given (I.) is equally applicable. As a breach of the marriage contract a single act of adultery committed by either husband or wife is an absolute ground for divorce from the bonds of matrimony in all of the States except South Carolina, where no divorce law exists at all; Maine, where it is left to the discretion of the court; and Kentucky, North Carolina, and Texas, where living in adultery on the part of the husband is necessary, but a single act of adultery by the wife is sufficient to entitle the aggrieved party to a diIn all cases, however, collusion, condonation, or recrimination (i. e., proof of the same offence committed by the complainant) will defeat the action. The law of Dakota provides that after a divorce for adultery the guilty party shall not marry again; in Delaware, Louisiana, and Tennessee the restriction is only against marriage with the paramour. In Georgia, Maryland, and Mississippi it is left to the discretion of the court in passing the decree to insert this stipulation. The New York law also prohibits the guilty party from marrying again during the lifetime of the other, but it is within the power of the court in which the judgment was rendered to modify this decree upon satisfactory proof that the complainant has remarried, that five years have elapsed since the decree, and that the defendant's conduct has been uniformly good. In those States in which this disability is not actually prescribed it of

In order to enable the wife to obtain alimony the law of some of the States-as Pennsylvania, for example-allows also a divorce a mensa et thoro for adultery; but in other States, even though the divorce be absolute, provision is made for the wife. The general results upon property rights which follow divorces for this cause are more properly cognizable under DIVORCE, (q. v.). (N. D. M.)

ADVAITA (Sanscrit), a Hindoo philosophic term, equivalent to Non-dualism, or Monism. It denotes the belief that Brahma is the only existence, the universe being merely an emanation from this WorldSpirit. Human souls are part of this being, and at death are absorbed in it as air contained in a vessel is merged in the atmosphere when the vessel is broken. The ignorance which causes men to regard themselves as separate can be removed by a proper understanding of the Vedas. This doctrine, which has had a most important influence on Hindoo philosophy, can be traced back to the time of the Veda hymns; but it was first fully developed in the Vedanta system, and especially by the commentator Sankara, who appears to have lived in the eighth century after Christ.

ADVANCEMENT, in law, a gift by way of anticipation from a parent, or one standing in loco parentis, to a child of what it is supposed such child would otherwise inherit at the death of the parent. The effect of an advancement is to decrease the child's distributive share in the parent's estate correspondingly. No particular formality is requisite to constitute a gift an advancement unless such formality be prescribed by statute. Every gift from a parent to a child which is in the nature of a portion, or which seems to contemplate the settlement of the child for life, is prima facie an advancement. This presumption may be, however, overcome by proof that such was not the donor's intention. A trifling gift is never considered as an advancement, nor is the expense involved in the maintenance and education of a child.

Where security is taken for repayment of money, the amount lent by a parent to a child is never deemed an advancement, but rather a mere debt.

A child to whom property has been advanced may usually elect on the death of the parent to bring that property into hotch-pot, and will in such case be entitled to an equal share with the other children in the estate. (L. L., JR.)

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, ASSOCIATION FOR. See ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE.

ADVENTISTS, a body of Christians, including sev-| of Gentile supremacy spoken of in Daniel iv. must eral branches, who believe that the visible, personal begin, he thought, when the Jews ceased to be an coming of Christ, the Second Advent, is near at hand, independent nation, which was at the captivity of Maand that at this coming the millennium will begin. The nasseh, B. C. 677; the 2300 days (Daniel viii. 14) began doctrine of the millennium, as held by the Adventists, with the seventy weeks, which dated from B. c. 457; is substantially the old doctrine accepted in the early the 1335 days of Daniel xii. 12 began on the setting up ages of Christianity. Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Tertul- of the papal supremacy, which he fixed at A. D. 508. lian, and others of the Church Fathers were Mille- Then, he wrote, reckoning all these prophetic periods narians, believing that Christ would come to reign with from the several dates assigned by the best chronologers the saints a thousand years, the earth being renewed for the events from which they should evidently be for their abode. Without attempting to trace the reckoned, they would all terminate together about Å. D. course of the doctrine, it is sufficient to say that this 1843. I was thus brought in 1818, at the close of my temporal view was opposed by Jerome, Augustine, and two years' study of the Scriptures, to the solemn concluothers of the post-Nicene Fathers, who regarded the sion that in about twenty-five years from that time all millennium as a period for the triumph of Christ's the affairs of our present state would be wound up; spiritual kingdom on earth, the Church. Many looked that all its pride and power, pomp and vanity, wickedfor Christ's personal coming at the end of the first ness and opposition, would come to an end; that the thousand years of the Christian era. Similar views kingdom of the Messiah would be established in place were held in the Middle Ages and after the Reforma- of the kingdoms of the world, the curse be removed tion; especially among the Lutherans there were many from the earth, death be destroyed, and reward be given who studied prophecy and the events of the times, and to the prophets and saints." The next five years Mr. found grounds for believing that the second advent was Miller spent in proving his work and answering objecnear at hand. Bengel, the commentator of the last, tions which rose in his mind. He was then fully conand Koch of the present, century, have advocated this vinced of the correctness of his conclusions, but it was doctrine, which is held to some extent by Christians in not until several years later (1831) that he overcame nearly all the denominations, an evidence of which is his reluctance to proclaiming his views publicly and the Pre-millennial Conference which met in New York warning the world of its danger. His first lecture, in City in Oct., 1878, ministers from the Baptist, Presby- the church in Dresden, N. Y., was well received, and terian, Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Episcopal, and he soon found himself surrounded with large assemReformed Episcopal churches being present and read- blages, while invitations came to him from churches ing papers. A similar conference was held in London of several denominations. The next year he pubin 1873. lished his views in a country newspaper, and in 1833 The movement to which the Adventists owe their in pamphlet form. The doctrines advocated received origin may be said to have arisen in 1831, when William much attention, and many accepted them. Mr. Miller Miller began to proclaim the near personal coming of speaks of eight ministers preaching them in 1833. The Christ. The first pre-millennial work published in this movement was now making considerable progress. In country is supposed to have been that of Samuel Hutch- 1834 a journal was started to advocate it. Mr. Miller inson of Boston in 1667, and down to the close of the was almost constantly writing and lecturing on the subseventeenth century fifty similar books are said to ject. Converts multiplied and opposition arose. There have been issued. The most important publication was also a rapid increase of advent literature, which of the kind in the last century was probably Spauld- was widely circulated. Among the leading ministers of ing's. Early in the present century there were several the movement were Charles Fitch, Congregationalist; such publications, and it is claimed that the Herald Josiah Litch, Methodist; T. Cole, J. V. Himes, and L. of Gospel Liberty, established in 1808, advocated pre-D. Fleming of the Christian Connection; and H. D. millennial views. But William Miller was the founder Ward of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1840 a of the denomination, and the members have accord-general conference of the friends of the "Advent Mesingly been vulgarly called Millerites." Mr. Miller sage," as it was called, was held in Boston. The conwas born in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1781. He removed to ference did not propose a new organization, but met Low Hampton, N. Y., where he was converted in 1816. simply for discussion. The result was the issue of an Abandoning his former deistical belief, he became an address in which it was stated that while the conference attentive reader of the Bible. He speaks of being was not agreed as to the particular year of Christ's comastonished at the "beauty and glory" of the Scrip- ing, it was unanimous in the belief that it was tures, in which he found a "remedy for every disease at hand." Conferences of this character were held in of the soul," and "everything_revealed that he 1841 in New York City, Low Hampton, N. Y., Lowell, wished to know. He joined the Baptist Church, held Mass., Portland, Me., and other places, and an increasprayer-meetings in his house, and was a very active ing number of ministers and journals, tracts, and books worker for the advancement of the religion he had helped to spread the advent doctrines and add to the formerly sneered at. He applied himself more and general excitement in view of the near approach of the more closely to the study of the Bible, laying aside all end of the world. The following year was a year of commentaries and other helps and drawing up certain still greater activity. Camp-meetings were held, and rules of interpretation for his guide. In his examina- tent-meetings resorted to in towns and cities where it tion of the prophecies he satisfied himself that the end was difficult to get churches or halls, the opposition to of the world was to come before, not after, the millen- the Adventists or Millerites having everywhere become nium; that the second advent of Christ was to be per- very strong. Miller and his followers were regarded by sonal and pre-millennial; and that this advent was near many as fanatics turning the world upside down, and at hand. In support of these conclusions, as derived many newspaper articles and more elaborate treatises from prophecy, he found, he said, great help in chrono- were written to show that their conclusions were based logical arguments. He discovered that the prophecies on no solid foundation. In November of this year The in the Old Testament for which a period had been an- Midnight Cry, a daily paper published in New York nounced were all fulfilled in the time specified. Days City, was added to the list of new journals started by were often used, he also ascertained, for years. Thus, the Adventists. It continued as a daily nearly a month, the seventy weeks" to the Messiah were fulfilled in and then became a weekly. In this year some of the 490 years, the 1260 days of the papal supremacy in lecturers carried the "message" into the cities of the 1260 years. "Day" also means, sometimes, an in- West. In response to the general desire to have a definite period, and sometimes a thousand years. With more definite date assigned for the end of the world this principle established, he believed that if he could than "about the year 1843," Mr. Miller expressed the ascertain when the prophetical days began he could opinion that the great event would take place between foretell the date of the advent. The " seven times" March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. He told his fol

66

"nigh

44

ance.

ADVENTISTS.

lowers that in a few short months the work of salva- |
tion would be ended for ever, and exhorted them to
renewed diligence. The earliest date fixed upon by any
of the Adventists for the coming was Feb. 10, 1843.
The next date was the 15th of the same month. The
third disappointment was the passing of April 14, the
season of the crucifixion, without the expected appear-
The zeal of the preachers was not, however, re-
laxed; they raised the cry of warning in all parts of
the country, and there were many strange scenes in
of the expectation, excitement, and dis-
consequence
appointment of those who waited confidently for the
Lord's coming. Mr. Miller confessed, after he had
seen the latest date pass uneventfully by, that he had
been in error and was disappointed; nevertheless, he
believed that the "day was near at hand, even at the
door." The effect of the failure on the mass of Miller's
followers was to scatter and divide them. They had
been formed into no organization, congregational or
otherwise, and when the bond uniting them-their
common expectation of the advent of Christ-was
snapped, they broke up to form different parties, and
to return, many of them, to the churches with which
they had previously been connected. Others continued
to believe in the near coming of Christ, and such were
generally shut out of the churches. Some of the min-
isters who had embraced Miller's views renounced them,
and were restored to the confidence and fellowship of
the brethren of their respective denominations. Those
who remained faithful to the millennial doctrine were
not at one among themselves. Elder S. S. Snow made
a re-examination of the prophetic numbers, and of the
dates of the events to which they were supposed to
apply, and he came to the conclusion that a mistake
of a year had been made, and that the advent would
take place in 1844. At first, few of the leaders believed
his prophecy. Mr. Miller would not for a time accept
it, but at last he gave it his indorsement, and the ex-
citement of 1843 was renewed. Meetings were multi-
plied. Farmers left their crops unharvested (it was the
fall of 1844), carpenters deserted the bench, and men
in other pursuits left their business and gave their time
to the study of the Bible and to religious gatherings.
A new paper, The True Midnight Cry, was started to
advocate the new date, and some other advent journals
also supported it. The date assigned was Oct. 22, 1844.
As the time approached there were few of the watchers
of 1843 who did not believe that the new calculation
Miller said if this proved erroneous he
should "feel twice the disappointment" he had felt at
the former failure. The Advent Herald issued Oct. 16
Secular business was
a large issue as its last one.
generally suspended and preparation made to meet the
Lord. Some arrayed themselves as for an ascension,
left their homes, and spent the last night of their sup-
posed stay on earth in a tent. As the expectation had
been more general and the excitement more intense
than on the former occasion, the disappointment and
chagrin were more bitter and embarrassing. The
papers which were supposed to have finished their
work resumed publication, and the preachers who had
severe and arduous labors
put away for ever the "
of lecture, "controversy, and entreaty," and prepared
for the "endless rest of the saints," found they still
had something to do. Mr. Miller opposed all further
efforts to fix a time, and said he would cry, "To-day!
"In this view the more mod-
to-day! until He comes.
erate of the leaders concurred, but some have continued
to predict dates even down to the present. Not un-
naturally, considering the intensity of the excitement,
some of the more fanatical were led to commit excesses
and subject themselves to the reproach and condemna-
One party professed the gift
tion of all sensible men.
of vision and miraculous powers; another taught that
it was sinful to organize churches, and that the woes
pronounced against Babylon were meant for all churches,
both Roman Catholic and Protestant; and another party
proclaimed the "shut-door" theory, declaring that the

was correct.

saints were shut into the kingdom with the wise virgins
and Christ, and the rest of mankind were shut out.
Each party had a paper or two to advocate its peculiar
views, and the result was great confusion. Mr. Miller
is said to have received in one week as many as sixteen
different papers, but few of which agreed. Many were
Mr. Miller him-
at a loss what or whom to believe, and it was thought
desirable by Mr. Miller and his friends to call a mutual
conference at Albany in April, 1845.
self called it to order, and was the head of a committee
of twelve who reported a declaration of belief, which the
conference adopted. The chief points of this document
were that the second coming of Christ is to be visible
and personal; that it is near at hand; that the earth
is to be renewed for the dwelling-place of the saints;
that the millennium is the thousand years which will
intervene between Christ's coming (at which the right-
eous dead shall rise) and the second resurrection; and
that it is the duty of ministers to preach the gospel unto
the end, calling upon men to repent in view of the
coming kingdom. It was also recommended that be-
lievers form churches and Sunday-schools, that preach-
ers hold conferences and give lectures, and that advent
were also condemned: (1) the conversion of the world
literature be more widely circulated. Certain doctrines
to Christ before the second advent; (2) the restoration
of the Jews to national independence; (3) the claims
to special illumination. Fellowship was denied to those
Adventists who "require new tests as conditions of sal-
vation, who practise promiscuous feet-washing and give
the salutation kiss, who sit on the floor as an act of hu-
An address prepared by Mr. Miller was
mility, shave their heads, and act like children in un-
derstanding.
issued counselling moderation, avoidance of speculation
and strife, more Bible-study and less writing, and cau-
In this year (1845) Mr. Miller, in reviewing his la-
tion in accepting the views of pretended leaders.
bors, estimated that about two hundred ministers had
embraced his views in the United States and Canada.
It is claimed that the majority of those who remained
Adventists after the disappointment of 1844 accepted
the Albany platform. As to the whole number of Mil-
ler's followers, there were different opinions. When he
died (in 1849) a leading New York daily paper spoke
of his having had 30,000 or 40,000 disciples, whereupon
one of his friends wrote to claim that the number was
over 100,000 for a time, and that there were then (1849)
50,000. From this it would appear that fully one-half
of the Adventists of 1843-44 ceased to be counted such
at the time of the death of their leader. The decrease
was so large and so rapid that many supposed that the
whole movement had collapsed, but the influence of the
Albany convention stimulated organization, and a much
After the Albany conference two causes of division
larger denomination exists to-day than at Miller's death.
appeared among the Adventists. While they were
organizing societies and trying to bring order out of
chaos, these causes were creating divergences which
were to frustrate the efforts to unite all the followers of
Miller on one platform. The two causes were the de-
cussion of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.
sire to fix another date for Christ's coming and the dis-
new light on the commencement and terminus of the
In 1852, Elder Jonathan Cummings professed to find
periods of Daniel." He claimed that the proper date
manip-
to reckon from was A. D. 519, when the union of Church
and State was proclaimed by the emperor Justin. Con-
sidering the 1260 days of Daniel as years, he brought
the first period down to 1779; the 1290 days he so
ulated as to make them signify 30 years, and bring the
next period down to 1809; then the 1335 days, reach-
ing to the end of all things, were made to expire in 1854.
This prediction soon had a number of zealous support-
was written against it. The result was alienation.
ers, but many refused to accept this date, and much
The believers in the new date held a mass meeting in
Lowell, Mass., in Jan., 1854, and decided to establish
a paper of their own. Accordingly, the World's Crisis

was begun, but the flight of time soon proved that Cummings's calculations were no more trustworthy than those of Miller, Snow, and others had been, and the organ of the movement confessed, in May, 1855, that it had been "disappointed and mistaken. Cummings became the head of several "communities" in which there was a common treasury, but these soon wound up their affairs and he retired to private life. These "time" brethren, as those who looked for the end of the world in 1854 were called, had become separated, as has been shown, from the main body of Adventists. The questions of prophecy having lost much of their freshness and interest, they took up with alacrity the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, which had for several years been receiving attention. As early as 1842 a paper called The Bible Examiner had been established in New York, which had for its motto, "No immortality or endless life except through Christ alone." In a few years this view was adopted by many of the leading Adventist ministers. It was very generally held by the party which established The World's Crisis, but not by the main body, who were quite willing to receive the former into fellowship again and tolerate the difference on this point. A conference was held in Boston in June, 1855, with this object in view, but the "time" brethren refused to coalesce, and held a convention on the same day in Worcester, Mass. The lines of separation have never been united, but the two parties have changed places in respect to numbers.

with the saints of the resurrection be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; that (10th) the heavens and earth will be dissolved by fire and be created anew, and the eternal kingdom of God be set up; that (11th) salvation is by the free, unmerited favor of God; that (12th) the observance of the Sabbath is of perpetual obligation, and that it should be recognized as a memorial institution of Christ's work and resurrection and of the creation, and as prefiguring the perfect rest to be given "the people of God when the six thousand years of the history and age of this world shall have terminated;" that (13th) baptism expresses not only faith in the forgiveness of sin, but also in the resurrection of the saints; that (14th) the Lord's Supper was instituted for sincere believers, and is a constant memorial of Christ's atoning sacrifice; that (15th) the "exact time of the second advent is veiled in uncertainty," but the "prophetic Scriptures, in periods and events, are now indicating the near approach of the judgment.'

II. SECOND-ADVENT CHRISTIANS.-These form the most numerous branch of the Adventists. As already stated, they were those who fixed on 1854 as the last year of earthly things. They have grown rapidly since they began to proclaim the doctrine of the mortality of the soul. They claim about 50,000 members, 1000 ministers, and 30 annual conferences in New England, the Middle and Western States, and the South, and also in Canada. General conferences are held for the Western and Eastern societies. The societies support two publication societies-one in Boston, the other in Chicago

The census for 1880 returns the number of confessed Advent believers in this country at 90,079, including-and the American Advent Mission Society. A simi746 ordained ministers. These believers are classed as follows: Adventists (members), 11,100; Second Adventists, 63,500; Seventh-Day Adventists, 14,733. The ministers are similarly classified: Adventists, 107; Second Adventists, 501; Seventh-Day Adventists, 138. The churches are thus distributed: Adventists 91; Second Adventists, 583; Seventh-Day Adventists, 608. The number of Adventists reported in 1860 was, it is said, only 17,120; in 1870 they numbered 34,555. A printed list of ministers in The Adventist Handbook for 1881 contains only 425 names.

lar mission society was organized in 1854, and collected some money for home missions and missions in Switzerland and Italy. The latter were not long continued. Many years earlier three missionaries were sent to England, and about the same time a mission was established in the West Indies, but these efforts did not continue more than a year. The American Advent Mission Society, which is supported by all the churches both East and West, was organized in 1865 with special reference to the needs of the freedmen. The average annual contributions have been $6000, with which missionaries

I. EVANGELICAL ADVENTISTS.-These are the orig-have been supported in most of the Southern States. inal Adventists, representing the Albany conference. At a "national convention" held in Worcester, Mass., At the time of the rise of the party which fixed on 1854 in 1881, at which 93 delegates were present from the as the last year of the world these Evangelical Advent- Eastern and Middle States and Canada, a declaration ists formed the main body, but the doctrine of the mor- of principles and a form of “advisory covenant" were tality of the soul, or life in Christ only, and other causes, adopted. These were adopted also by a conference held in drew upon their strength, and they have been gradually the West, with a basis of union with the Eastern Adventdwindling, until their numbers have now become insig-ists, in the same year. The united organization, known nificant. They believe in the immortality of the soul, the conscious state of the dead, and the eternal conscious suffering of the wicked. In other respects-the personal, visible coming of Christ imminent, the purification of the earth by fire for the abode of the saints, and the millennium beginning at the advent-they are like other Adventists. They organized in 1858 an American Millennium Association, which publishes a news paper and some tracts. This newspaper, which claims to be "the oldest prophetic journal in America," in deference to a divided feeling as to the name of the body was published many years for one party as Messith's Herald, and for the other as Advent Herald. The body has annual conferences in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Every summer they hold a camp-meeting at Hebronville, Mass., They number, as estimated, about 9000. Their faith is set forth in fifteen articles, which treat of the canon, the nature of God, the divinity, humanity, and redemptive work of Christ, the office of the Holy Ghost, repentance and forgiveness, and regeneration, in the ordinary evangelical way; the seventh article declares that at Christ's advent the judgment will take place; the eighth, that the righteous will rise at Christ's coming, but the wicked at the end of the millennium, the former to life eternal, the latter to everlasting punishment; the ninth, that the living saints will put on immortality and

as the Second-Advent Christian Association of America, held its first meeting in August of that year, twenty con ferences being represented. The first four articles of the declaration of faith state the commonly-received doctrines of the Scriptures and the Trinity. The fifth article declares that Christ died to save men from eternal death, the penalty of violated law, while salvation is twofold-(1st) from the penalty of Adam's sin by the resurrection from the dead; (2d) from personal sin and its consequences. The next three articles treat of repentance, of baptism (believers should be buried with Christ in baptism, to show their belief in the resurrec tion of Christ and of the dead), of the Lord's Supper and the coming of Christ. The tenth article expresse belief in the everlasting destruction of the finally impenitent and the ultimate extinction of all evil. The elev enth article declares that the second coming of Christ is near at hand. The next two articles state that the earth will be renewed for the future abode of the saints, and urge that all church action point to the second advent. Three articles on church organization set forth the congregational system. The "advisory covenant for the use of congregations takes the Bible as the only rule of faith, and permits liberty of thought, but denies sanction to the "persistent urging of doctrinal themes" not "essential to salvation." The World's Crisis, Boston, and the Advent Christian Times, Chicago, are the chief weeklies published for Advent Christians.

III. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.-These form a and a physical change, wrought at Christ's second comcompact, highly-organized denomination. They hold ing, "whereby, if dead, we are raised incorruptible, and that the chronological argument in support of the date if living are changed to immortality in a moment;" that of October, 1844, as the end of the longest prophetic the Spirit of God is manifested in the Church through period of 2300 days, was correct, but that those who be- certain gifts spoken of in 1 Cor. xii. and Eph. iv.; that lieve that any prophetic period given in the Bible reaches the dead are unconscious; that the resurrection of the the second advent are in error. The event predicted righteous takes place at Christ's coming, and that of the was the cleansing of the sanctuary, not Christ's per- wicked a thousand years thereafter; that the righteous sonal coming. The sanctuary referred to is not the will reign with Christ a thousand years in the New Jeruearth, but the "true tabernacle" in heaven described salem, judging the world and fallen angels, during which by Paul, in which "Christ our High Priest is minis- time the earth lies in a desolate and chaotic condition, ter. As the priest cleansed the sanctuary of Moses where Satan shall be confined, and finally destroyed yearly, so must Christ cleanse the heavenly sanctuary with the wicked; that then shall come the new heaven before his glorious coming. The end of the period of and the new earth. They practise feet-washing at the 2300 days in 1844 "brought us to the commencement administration of the Lord's Supper, and also kissing, of this last portion of Christ's work as Priest in the true to some extent, as a religious rite. The visions of Sistabernacle above, called the cleansing of the sanctuary ter White are regarded as spiritual manifestations, and -not a cleansing from physical impurities, but from are generally accepted by the members. They have the presence of our sins, imparted to it through the been numerous, and on a great variety of subjects. blood of Christ there ministered in our behalf." The The polity of the Seventh-Day Adventists is, like that Seventh-Day Adventists look for Christ's coming, as do of the other branches, congregational. Besides the those of the other branches. They believe that event church organizations, there are State conferences, and is near at hand. "We are now in the time of the a general conference which meets annually. At the cleansing of the sanctuary, a period of brief but indef- last annual session of this body (in 1881) 27 State coninite duration, reaching to Christ's coming.' As all ferences were reported, extending over a large part of the prophetic periods have terminated, they say there this country and into Canada. The number of memare no data from which to reason respecting a definite bers returned in 1880 was 15,570. There were 640 time for the Lord to come." This view of the cleans-churches and 114 ordained ministers and 116 licening of the sanctuary led to the placing of more stress on tiates. In the summer season much use is made of the law, the great original of which is in the heavenly large tents for meetings; no less than seventy were sanctuary. This law cannot possibly be changed; there- employed in 1880. Funds for benevolent purposes are fore it is incumbent on the "second house of Israel,' raised by systematic contributions, each member being as on the first, to keep the fourth commandment. The expected to lay aside weekly a sum equal to one-tenth observance of the seventh day was, however, probably of his income. The amount contributed in 1880 was begun before the force of this argument was seen. The $62,000. Missions are carried on in this country among Adventist church in Washington, N. H., began to keep the English, French, German, and Scandinavian poputhe seventh day as early as 1844, in obedience to the lations, and in Europe in seven countries. In Europe teachings of Mrs. Rachel D. Preston, who had been a and Egypt there are said to be 400 believers. These Seventh-Day Baptist before she joined the society. foreign missions were begun in 1874. Elders Joseph Bates, James White, and J. N. Andrews were among the earliest permanent converts to this doctrine. Mr. White and his wife Ellen may be considered perhaps as the chief founders of the denomination. Mr. White was born in Palmyra, Me., in 1821. He preached the doctrine of the coming of Christ until 1844, when he is said to have accepted the views and visions of Elder Joseph Turner and Miss Ellen G. Harmon (who afterward became his wife), and advocated for a time the "shut-door" theory. He and Miss Harmon travelled together in the New England and Middle States, taking up the seventh-day question in 1845. He continued to work as an evangelist, laying, at the same time, the foundation of an extensive publishing business. He started the Advent Review, the weekly organ of the denomination, in 1850. It was published in Maine and New York till 1855, when it was removed to Battle Creek, Mich., the present headquarters of the Church. Here the publishing business grew so rapidly that three buildings were at different times erected to give it room. The publishing association, of which Elder White was president until his death in 1881, issues eight periodicals in English, Danish, Swedish, and German, and many books and tracts. The first church in Battle Creek was built in 1855. This was soon succeeded by a larger house, and in 1879 a fourth house (a tabernacle 105 by 130 feet in measurement) was consecrated. They also have in Battle Creek a college and a health-reform institute. They are zeal ous advocates of temperance, having in use three pledges the teetotal, the anti-rum and tobacco, and the anti-whiskey. It is expected that every member of the denomination will sooner or later sign the teetotal pledge, which promises abstinence from alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, opium, and all other narcotics and stimulants. A summary of the belief of Seventh-Day Adventists is given in twenty-five articles. It is declared that the new birth implies two changes-a moral change, wrought by conversion and a Christian life,

IV. LIFE-AND-ADVENT UNION.-This branch was organized Aug. 29, 1863, at Wilbraham, Mass. It dif fers from the Advent Christians chiefly in holding that the wicked dead will not participate in the resurrection at all. This view had been proclaimed as early as 1848 by John T. Walsh in The Bible Examiner, an Adventist paper, and later by Elder George Storrs and others. It is not known how many churches and ministers are attached to this body. The number of members is estimated at from 6000 to 7000. The organ of the union is the Herald of Life, published in Springfield, Mass. The annual business-meeting is held on a camp-ground.

V. AGE-TO-COME ADVENTISTS.-These millenarians are more nearly in accord with those of Great Britain than with the other bodies of Adventists in this country respecting the literal fulfilment of prophecy. They believe in a future millennium in which Christ will reign personally instead of spiritually, and that Judah and Israel will be restored to their own land. As to the destiny of the wicked, they reject eternal torture and inherent immortality. Eternal life is only bestowed by God, through Christ, in the plan of redemption. They differ, however, from the great majority of Adventists, who believe in the destruction of the wicked, in holding that the earth will not be burned at Christ's second coming, but that the millennium precedes the final consummation. The Restitution, published for the branch, at Plymouth, Ind., has about 2000 subscribers. The churches are scattered over the Western States and Canada. No estimate of membership is given.

None of these branches, except the Seventh-Day, have established any college or general educational institutions. They have but little church property, and much of their activity consists in the publication of book, tract, and periodical literature. The ordained ministers usually derive their main support from their own exertions in various branches of business. (H. K. C.)

ADVERSE POSSESSION, in law, the enjoyment of real estate or incorporeal hereditaments in such a