Philippine Islands by L. V. Finster

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 3, 1910

Philippine Islands

By L. V. Finster

SEVERAL months ago I visited the town of Antepolo on business, and took occasion to see the famed “Virgin of Ante-polo,” of whom it is claimed that the carrying of her image insures complete protection in traveling by land or sea. The padre kindly gave us an opportunity to inspect the image. It is a little wooden doll about two feet tall, with long, flowing hair, and dressed in a magnificent robe. Her hands and crown are covered with jewels of all kinds. They say that she is covered with about $50,000 worth of ornamentations. As I stood there viewing her, some devout Filipinos came up, fell on their knees, and kissed her hands. What sadness filled our hearts as we saw people kneeling to an image,—and this in a supposedly Christian land, and by professed Christian people! Before I left Australia, a Catholic asked me why I was going to the Philippine Islands as a missionary. “Why,” he said, “they are all Christians. Why not go to the heathen?” Can you tell me the difference between bowing down to wood and stone images of Buddha in India and bowing before the images of some “saint” or of even the Lord Jesus himself?

L. V. FINSTER.