ANOTHER PICTURE | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 15, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 11.

ANOTHER PICTURE.

AN artist was once asked to paint a picture representing a decaying church. To the astonishment of many, instead of putting on canvas an old, tottering ruin, the artist painted a stately edifice of modern grandeur. Through the open portals could be seen the richly-carved pulpit, the magnificent organ, and the beautiful stained-glass windows.

Just within the grand entrance, guarded on either side by a "pillar of the church," in spotless apparel and glittering jewelry, was an offering-plate of goodly workmanship, for the "offerings" of fashionable worshipers. But—and here the artist's conception of a decaying church was made known—right above the offering-plate, suspended from a nail in the wall, there hung a square box, very simply painted, and bearing the legend, "Collection for Foreign Missions;" but right over the slot, through which certain contributions ought to have gone, he had painted a huge cobweb.—Selected.