Fanciful Interpretation of Scripture.
By J. O. C.
A CELEBRATED D. D. of Washington, is giving a series of discourses to the young people of his congregation. Not long since he preached, basing his remarks upon the “flying roll” of Zechariah. In this prophecy he saw predicted the daily newspaper of the present. He said: “No work of man so overawes me as does this ubiquitous power of the daily paper. It brings knowledge, facts, companionship.” The newspaper men who will take the trouble to read carefully the fifth chapter of Zechariah, certainly will not feel flattered with the application of the prophecy to their productions. The prophet declares the flying roll to be a curse, going over the face of all the earth, and entering houses, only to entirely consume them. If this is to be the result of the daily visits of newspapers to the houses of the land, the sooner the world has the warning the better. If the recital of sickening tragedies and fiendish outrages will accomplish such a work, it will not be long before the mission of the average daily will be accomplished. Such interpretations of Scripture, however, serve to show one thing, and that is to what extremes one can go when allowing his mind to roam the field of fancy.