Bogs by Editor | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 15, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 15.

"Bogs."

By Editor

DURING a series of meetings recently held in London, we noticed a well-dressed lady, who was a regular attendant at all the services. She always managed to get a seat in about the same position of the hall, near the platform. She was a most attentive listener. She never engaged in the singing, but sat through all the services with a perfectly contented and satisfied expression on her face. Day after day, through three or four weeks, we watched her. She had become a sort of fascination. One day we asked a lady who was on the platform in the choir seats, if she knew her.

"O yes," was the reply, "very well."

"Is she a Christian?" was our next query.

"No," replied our informant, with an abrupt tone of voice, as if she did not care to say anything more about her; "she is a bog."

"A bog?" we repeated, not quite understanding what was meant.

"Yes," was the short, sharp reply, "a bog."

Still mystified, we repeated the question, "A bog?"

"Yes, a BOG, spelled with capital letters; that is what she is. Don't you know what a bog is?"

"Yes, I think I do," we replied; "in our country, at least, it is a bit of marshy ground, or a stagnant pond, which catches the surface drainage of the surrounding country, but which has no outlet. It is usually covered with a green slime, and is the home of wild waterweeds, and all sorts of reptiles."

"Well, that is what she is; she is a bog. She is found at all the religious meetings in London. She is a marsh; she has an unlimited capacity for hearing sermons, and receiving all kinds of religious instruction; but she has no outlet. She is never known to do anything for Christ; she never speaks to a soul; she never gives to any cause, though she has money. She never does anything but just absorb, absorb, absorb. She is a bog. We have a lot of them in London; and that is what we call them."

We did not pursue the question any further, but we have kept up a good deal of thinking ever since. We have never called anybody a bog to their faces; we have never spoken of any particular persons to others as being bogs; but we have looked over a good many congregations, and as our eyes have rested upon certain professed Christians, we have been unable to keep the word, or at least the thought, "BOG," from rising to our lips. We pass the word along; it is a good one.—Words and Weapons.