p. 9 | Paganism Revived

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 17.

Paganism Revived.

That brilliant writer and critic “Nym Crinkle,” in reviewing a late naturalistic novel, gives utterance to this important truth:—

“This recrudescence of paganism in our smart romancers is a curious and serious sign of the times.”

It is a curious and serious sign of the times in circles outside of romance and literature. It is seen in athletic sports, in festivals and carnivals, in political matters, in art, in secret societies and orders, and, more than all else and worse than all else, in religious matters. The retrogression of Protestantism to ornate forms and elaborate ceremonials is a revival of the old pagan spirit. Among all church institutions those revealed in the word of God are least regarded, while those which came from paganism, without one word of authority from the word of God, such as Christmas, Easter, and the Sunday, are the most highly honored. Our Christian Endeavor Societies are following the old Persian sun-worshipers in their early morning sunrise meetings; and in the control of religion and religious observances by civil law the same ideas obtain readily that existed in Pagan Rome. Truly it is a curious and serious sign of the times.