Of Devotion to What? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 10, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 37.

Of Devotion to What?

By Editor

A prominent minister of a Philadelphia church says, in justifying church entertainments:—

The Lord pity any church that has not enough of the spirit of Christ in it to stand a church fair, wherein devout offerings are brought to the tithing house in the spirit of true devotion.

What does he mean by “stand”?—to endure? or to hold its own against? If offerings are brought to God in a “spirit of true devotion” to Him, why is a church fair necessary which always consumes so much time and expense? We will not deny that there is a “spirit of devotion” connected with the church fair, but so far as evidence from many sources goes, it is devotion to pleasure, to fun, to frolic, to appetite. A spirit of true devotion to Christ needs no stimulus of a church fair with its accompanying folly. It would be much better to say: “The Lord pity any church that has so little of the spirit of Christ as to tolerate or feel a longing for a church fair.” There are infinitely better pleasures for the Christian.