A Sad Spectacle

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 23, 1864

A SAD SPECTACLE.—We will not dwell upon the glaring hypocrisy of standing before the font of baptism, bedecked in all the puffery of fashion, and solemnly vowing to "renounce the Devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same," nor will we picture the sickening spectacle presented by troops of regimentated communicants, marching in laced, hooped, and bedizened grandeur through the "long drawn aisles," wheeling with a sailing sweep before the altars, and then meekly (?) kneeling to receive the emblems of the broken body and shed blood of our Lord. Terrible, indeed, must be the moral and mental perversion that sees nothing in such scenes but a "decent regard for appearances," and a proper respect for the world. If it be possible to paint a panorama which shall, in one sad view, embody the deepest degradation of the church, and the highest triumph of the powers of darkness, you have it in such life-scenes. Such scenes are exhibited in our cities nearly every Sabbath. Admission gratis—if one is well dressed.—Christ and Adornments.