p. 6 | Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1906

Note and Comment

The recent self-sacrifice of a woman to the sun-god, in Chicago, calls public attention to the fact that Baal worship is not altogether a thing of ancient history, but survives even in its ancient forms, in the midst of twentieth-century civilization. A Chicago telegram says:—

Revelations incident to the self-immolation last week of Mrs. Concetta Rizz, who was burned to death in what appears to have been an attempt to sacrifice herself to the sun, which she worshiped under the pagan name of Apollo, leaves little doubt that thousands of Chicagoans worship the sun-god, to whom they pray, and in whose honor they burn incense and pour libations. Those who have investigated say sun-worship is practised in this city by ten thousand persons, who, with rites and ceremonies of one sort or another, have revived adoration of the fiery principle for which the sun has stood as the symbol and embodiment from the remotest pagan times;

Not civilization nor scientific discovery, but Christianity, is now, as anciently, the safeguard against pagan superstition.