Religious Miscellany

S. D. A. Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 7, 1882

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 34; Special Edition, No. 1

Religious Miscellany

A correspondent of the World’s Crisis writes a long article to prove that the Lord’s Supper should be eaten in the evening. In this, he gives the following testimony as to the time of the meeting mentioned in Acts 20:7: “It should be remembered also that the first day of the week in Jewish and Greek count began about sundown, and, therefore, if they had eaten before sundown, it would have been on the seventh day of the week and not the first. They probably did not come from their homes till the Jewish Sabbath was over, or till about dark. But it is certain that Paul preached to them on the first day of the week, and on that part of the day that preceded midnight, which day began about sundown, and has but one midnight, that being not far from six hours after sundown.” This is very true; but as the writer believes that he has apostolic example for Sunday-keeping, he may now consider whether the little journey of twenty miles on which Paul started “at break of day” (Sunday morning), was proper Sabbath work. Another correspondent claims Acts 20:6-12 as proof that it was their custom to meet on the first day of the week, still claiming that we must follow apostolic example. Does the Crisis believe in holding services on Saturday night instead of on Sunday?

Dr. John Hall, pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, says: “In tracing the development of the spiritual worship of the Father, we find things began to insinuate themselves in disguise into the system and spirit of the Christian Church, although they had been rejected in substance and form many times. So with paganism, which had been rejected as a whole, and was execrated. Many of its elements in time grew into the custom of the Christian Church—notably, the holy days, and the imputing of secular powers to those who had held spiritual office.” And the Sunday is one of the Pagan “elements” which “grew into the custom of the Christian Church.” But too many Protestants are of the same mind as the lecturer who said, recently, when speaking on the Sunday question: “We are not now so much concerned to discuss whether Sunday is right, but whether we shall enforce its observance.”

In the Lesson Comments in the S. S. Times, we find the following text and comment: “‘For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.’ We must be careful to interpret this verse according to the analogy of prophetic inspiration. There may have been days of as great distress before or since; but to the mind of Christ, in the prophetic state, the awfulness was terrible. He speaks according to his deeply roused feelings.” Which means, in plain language, that Christ was so excited that he didn’t really know what he was saying, and was therefore guilty of exaggeration. We know that the one who made that comment did not intend any irreverence, but it is even worse than that. If he had only seen that Christ’s discourse recorded in Mark 13 does not apply entirely to the destruction of Jerusalem, he need not thus have put a club into the hands of Universalists and infidels.

In an address on the “Wonders of Electricity,” the statement is made that “in a million years the day will be longer by one minute than it is now; and Prof. Robert Hall, the astronomer royal of Ireland, says that “in one hundred and fifty million years we shall have a day which will be fourteen hundred hours long.” “Our remote posterity,” he says, “will have a night seven hundred hours long, and when the sun rises in the morning, seven hundred hours more will elapse before he can set. They will look back at our short periods of rest and short periods of work with mingled curiosity and pity.” And these same people, and many others who greedily swallow everything that is labeled “science,” contradictions and all, will solemnly protest that they are unable to believe the Bible. All of which shows that belief is more a matter of inclination than most people think.

The Jewish Times discusses the question of the return of the Jews to Palestine, and concludes that “there is no present prospect of the return of the Jews to Palestine, even though that event may prove the end of prophecy.” It quotes from an able American writer, for many years a resident of Beynet, who declares that the newspaper stories of great Jewish colonies pouring into Palestine and buying up large tracts of land are mere fabrications, and adds: “On the other hand the tide of Jewish emigration seems turning to the western continent, and if the Jews are as shrewd in the selection of a home for their families as they are in the transaction of business, they will not long hesitate between such a land as Palestine and such a country as the United States.” This is a sensible conclusion, and entirely consistent with prophecy, which does not predict a return of the Jews to Palestine.

In closing a book notice the Independent truthfully says: “A large amount of pagan thought and feeling lingers on in the world, and has acted a part of more or less importance in the history of Christianity. . . . It was not to be expected that Christianity would keep itself clear of all pagan alloy, and that part of the heavy work it has always been doing, and has still to do, is to achieve its purgation of these elements.”

Iceland is well supported with pastors. There is, on an average, one pastor for every two hundred inhabitants.