The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-09-04
Camp.meetings.
seventh.Day Adventists at Richmond.

FRIDAY 8 PROCEEDINGS The weather is ex-
ceedlngly favorable for out of doors services.
The air is soft and sweet suggestive of early
| autumn, scarcely breath of wind stirs the
leaves upon the trees
The social n Getting this NOR ming at o'clock
was very interesting season. One old veter-
an of the cross, on the shady side Of seventy,
stirred the sympathies of the people to smiles
and tears. He was connected with the Advent
| movement of AZ and '43 and still does not des-
pair that the Lord is soon to come. Speaking
| of that event. be deplored that he was likely
| to go down into the grave before it would oc-
cur. But" added he with sudden lighting
| up of countenance, when the Lord comes to
claim his saints, both living and dead, the
| underground crop will be the best; there will
| be Abraham, the old prophets and the blessed
apostles; ah, yes, the underground crop will be
| the bestr' The trembling old soldier, in view
| of the prospect of succumbing to the common
| fate of man, derived much satisfaction from
| the reflection that he should come up at last in
| emiuently respectable company.
Right here perhaps it would be we'll to give
| few brief facts concerning this denomination
| that sprang up in New England quarter of
| century ago, and has now become society
| numbering 10000 souls lie the United States
with books and tracts scattered over the civil
| lied globe. The UNCONVENTIONAL name is an
exponent of their two characteristic articles of
| faith, that is, they observe the seventh day as
| the Bible Sabbath, aud believe that the literal
| second advent of Christ is near, although I'M
| like other adventists quite numerous in in New
England, they set no time for the event. and
consider it out of their province to do so. 9th
erwise they do not materially differ from other
| evangelical denominations. The working ma
chinery of the church is always in good run
ming order. Everything moves by system.
There are fifteen distinct conferences in as
| many different states and 375 regularly Or
ganized churches. All the churches are re-
sponsible to their respective conferences and
all the conferences are responsible to the
General Conference which is the authority in
| the church. The ministry is supported by
| plan called Systematic Benevolence by
| which each member appropriate to the cause
ten per cent of his actual profits during
the year. The church is doing large work in
| home and foreign missions. Battle Greek,
| Michigan. is the headquarters of their publish
ing work, and here they issue five different Pc
l
| have this year established the press in Basel,
| Switzerland, and issue from that Office an eight
page paper In the French language Alto
gether 1T looks as if this people were destined
| to be one of the powerful church organza-
tions if this combustible planet lasts long
| enough.
| At 1880 this morning, Elder Smith preached,
reading lesson from Acts 13:42; "And when
the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
| Gentles besought that these words might be
preached to them the next Sabbath" The
| speaker referred to the bearing Of this text
| upon the Sabbath question, controverting the
popular doctrine that apostolic example was in
favor of observing the first day of the week.
If Paul had been engaged in introducing new
Sabbath, he would have objected to the Gen.
| tiles waiting a whole week to hear the
| Gospel again. He would have hidden them to
come out the next day which was the first of
the week. The fact that they did wait an en-
| tire week shows that neither the Gentiles nor
Jews knew of any other regular day for relig-
| ious worship than the seventh. The preach
| then spoke concerning these words which
the Gentiles wished to hear. presenting a sum-
mary of the Apostles discourse and making an
| application of verses 40 aud Al to our own
| times. Elder Smith is one Of the strong men of
the church aud his sermon to-day did justice
| to his reputation and was heard with interest
| by the large congregation in attendance.
| This afternoon at 80. Mrs. White spoke to
the people from the stand. She is an unosten-
tatious little woman of about 40, with full
| figure and an air of quiet sef-possession. She
\ was plainly dressed in black silk, relieved only
| by white collar and cuffs. For twenty years
she has led crusade against fashion, and her
example is a faithful illustration of her theory.
The moment she began to speak it was evil
dent that she was mistress of herself, and as
consequence she was able to hold the audience
and carry them with her in unconscious SYM
patty.
She read a letter from Malachi, 80. "But
who may abide the day of hts coming, and who
shall stand when he appeareth? For he is
| like a reiner's fire and like fuller's SOAP
The burden of her discourse turned upon the
| duty of Christians to submit to the refining
process of God and form characters fit for
| Heaven. All the trials and affections of life
should only serve to strengthen and beautify
| the Christian character. The blessing of true
religion in the daily walks of life was faithful
| ly portrayed. In conclusion she exhorted the
congregotan to repent and turn to Jesus. In
| the great day of the Lord, Christ would not
come to change our hearts, but to give us i'm
mortal bodies like his own glorious body. The
work of refining and fitting for his presence
must be done before this. Her discourse was
plain and practical and addressed especially to
the church.
The primitive Sabbath is the Sabbath Of our
Seventh-day friends. 1t begins at sunset Fri
day evening and ends at corresponding time
on the succeeding day. There is abundance of
| Bible evidence to support the belief that the
new day ends and the old one begins with the
darkness, suck as "The evening and the morn
ing were the first day." etc. This evening as
the shadows began to creep over the grove
the bell rang calling the people together. Elder
White then m ade few appropriate remarks,
and then knelt with the waiting congregation
to welcome the Sabbath in with prayer. 1t was
a solemn and impressive scene, and as the Sab
bath hymn foated out on the evening air,
while the tents cleaned out from the growing
darkness, one might almost imagine we were
set back few thousand years. and these were
the lost tribes of Israel worshipping in the
wilderness.
| At7-3O P. M. Elder White gave short dis
course on the subject of the Sabbath. He met
the objection of those who deny the sanctity of
any definite day on account of the difference of
time, by showing that there is no real gain or
loss Of time in going east or west, for, while
the Sabbath varies on the globe according to
the variation Of time, the day is actually the
same in the course in which it comes The
sun is Gods great time-keeper. In Europe
the church was already in the midst of the
Sabbath. On the Pacific coast they were just
making preparations for its observance, while
we were welcoming it as dear friend to our
doors. The mutter of distant thunder and an
occasional flash of lightning shortened the
services trife, and at its close the drops be-
gan to patter softly on the canopy of leaves
overhead with quiet persistence. that indi-
Gated protracted storm.
SATURDAYS PROCEEDINGS rain fell