p. 16 | All Saints’ Day

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 45.

All Saints’ Day

“All Saints’ Day.”—It has just passed, with its heathen customs inherited from our heathen fathers; the demon spirits now, however, are called saints. But think of this from a prominent Protestant New York paper:—

“It may be remembered by some that last year the day fell on Sunday, and the pastor of a prominent Protestant church in one of our cities chose for the subject of the morning discourse which preceded the communion service, All Saints’ Day. ‘I like,’ he said, ‘to think that our beloved who are in heaven are close by us on this day, perhaps viewing us from the heavenly land.’ Ah, how the inspiring words ‘took hold’! What new significance the name of the day seemed weighted with, once it was regarded as a special time for feeling a nearness to the beloved ones in the heavenly land!”

And again:—

“Those bright saints, ‘safe in the promised land,’ were close beside us also, ministering, it might be, the very balm of consolation and staying hopefulness that could impart new strength and new courage to meet the cares and duties of every-day life and experience.”

“We need not be afraid, in this day of religious light and broad enlightenment, to take within the scope of sacred days one which might well receive the name of ‘hallowed.’ How hearts would spring with instinctive welcome and tenderness to a day set apart for the remembrance of our own precious saints, the loved and unforgotten, who from the depths of our hearts we hope will never forget us!”

But all this is a grand base for Spiritualism, and is rank Catholicism. It hides Jesus Christ. It does no true honor to the dead, who “know not anything,” and it is an open door inviting the spirits of demons—fallen angels—to enter.