The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

Prediction Fulfilled

The fulfillment of the prophecy, however, is apparent when we consider their membership, which is reported to be 10,000,000 in the United States alone. As to their present religious garb, we give the following from the Review and Herald, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 1903:— GSAM 282.3

“At the recent convention of the National Association of Spiritualists, held in this city, a new ritual was adopted. Provision was made for the ‘ordination’ of pastors or ministers, and a company of believers in Spiritualism was recognized as a ‘church.’ This will be seen by reading the following section from the new ritual:— GSAM 282.4

” ‘No pastor or minister shall be settled over a church or society without first having been formally inducted into office by what has been known from the earliest ages of religious history as the service of ordination. No person can become a candidate for ordination until he has received a call to the pastorate of some church or society, or been appointed missionary by some State Spiritualist Association, incorporated as a religious body in the State in which it is located, or by the National Spiritualist Association of the United States of America. All persons who are candidates for pastorates or for missionary work must have been for at least three years in full fellowship with some Spiritualist church or society, and for at least two years a licentiate, commissioned by a State or the National Association as a trial speaker. Pastors settled for less than one full calendar year shall be ineligible for ordination.’ “ GSAM 282.5