The Worship of the Past

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 3, 1898

The Worship of the Past

The Christian Advocate tells us that “in May next Florence [Italy] will celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the burning of Savonarola as a heretic. The Catholic clergy, headed by the archbishop, will hold a solemn religious service in his honor.” In our Lord’s day the Pharisees, the “orthodox” sect of their time, built and garnished the sepulchers of the righteous whom their fathers killed, and then stained their own hands in the blood of Him who spoke through those slain by their fathers. Matt. 23:29–31. Well did James Russell Lowell sing:—

“For humanity sweeps onward; where to-day the martyr stands, On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands; Far in front the cross stands ready, and the crackling fagots burn, While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return To glean up the scattered ashes into History’s golden urn.”