The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-07-09
The Church Festival.

to your readers.
The wise man says, "Lo, this only
have / found, that God hath made man
upright; but they have sought out
many Inventions The church festival
| presume is one of them. The con
Junction connecting the two clauses in
the sentence quoted above, seems to
my benighted mind to imply opposl-
tion of meaning. That is, that mans
inventions in certain cases do not
make or keep man upright.
That the fertival is mans invention,
| think will be conceded, unless 1t has
a still worse oligin,) from the fact that
we find no warrant or mention of any
thing of the kind in the Scripture.
The Prophet Elisha seems to have bad
no thought of any thing of that kind,
when he came to Gilgal in time of
deartb, and found the sons of the
prophets in want of food. There was
case where certain ladies of uncertain
age might have found most congenial
employment in getting up festival
for those dear self-sacrifcing young
men, if the prophet had intimated
that such service would be acceptable.
But the prophet takes more prosaic
plan to satisfy their immediate wants.
"He said to his servants set on the
great pot and seethe pottage for the
sons of the prophets"
do not profess to be an Interpreter
of scripture narratives, but / suppose,
those sons of the prophets were young
men preparing to teach in the ancient
Jewish church, and that Elisha was
their principal instructor. Had those
students and their instructor lived in
our day, and been in such reduced cir
cumstances, no doubt some would be
philanthropist would nave gotten up a
festival or charity ball for their benefit.
A man from Baal-shalisha followed,
what l conceive to be the scriptural
plan and brought them "the first
fruits of his barley, and full ears of
corn" no nubbinS, and gave the stu
dents feast. He did not wait for the
meager or doubtful proceeds of a festi-
val to supply their wants.
Again the students found the place
where they dwet too strait for them
And they proposed not a charity ball
or festival, but that they ego to Jor-
dan, and take thence every man a
beam, and let us make US place there,
where we may dwell" l do not wish
it to be understood, that / object to
the church building houses for the ac-
commodation of theological students.
What condemn is, resorting to un-
scriptural methods for securing the
means. Let men give as did the man
from Baal-shalisha of the first fruits Of
his increase. The wise man SAYS,
"Honor the Lord with thy substance,
and the first fruits of thy increase, so
shall thy barns be filed with plenty
and thy presses burst out with
new wine" You will have TO
hunt long time before you find any
such encouragement for either buying
or selling ice cream or peanuts at a
festival.
An argument frequently made use
of in defence of church festivals is,
that it draws certain amount of mon
ey from those who otherwise would
not give any thing. This MAJ look
justifable, but l think we have no
warrant for such procedure. When
Moses wished to raise means for
the building of the Tabernacle, she
spake unto the children of Israel, say
ing, this is the thing which the Lord
commanded, take ye from among you
an offering unto the Lord, whosoever
is of willing heart, let him bring it,
an offering unto the Lord, gold, silver
ETC.
If instead of the above, we were to
find it recor(ed, "And Moses spake
unto the ci ildren of Israel, saying pre-
pare ye now great festival. Let
every one bring in such things as are
fair to look upon and pleasant TO the
taste; and see ye to it, that it exceeds
in abundance aud variety any thing
ever known among the heather that
are around about us. And moreover
we will send out of the fairest of our
maidens to beguile the SONS of the Am
orites, and the Cananites, and the Hit
tites to come and buy of our danties (;
so that we may secure help of those
who otherwise would give nothing to-
ward the good work"
If we were to find something like the
above, we would be inclined to exclaim
"why Moses thou art an old schemer !"
If we think such work would look a
little tricky, if it were done by Moses
or the prophets, how think you does it
look for men under the Christian dis
pensation ?
But we look in vain for any such
scripture precedent. The only thing
| have been able to find in Scripture,
that called to mind the modern church
festival, is when our Saviour found in
the temple those that sold oxen and
sheep and doves, and the changers of
money sitting. If the proceeds of
those sales were to be used with service
of the Temple, it would look very much
like festival,
Whatever may have been the object
of those sales, the offense seems to
have been making the temple a house
of merchandise "and when he had made
a scourge of small cords, He drove
them all out of the temple, and the
sheep and the oxen; and poured out
the changers money and overthrew
the tables; and said unto them that
sold doves, 'take these things hence
make not my fathers house a house of
merchandise.
Whether it would be the proper
thing at the present day for some good
citizen to take cato mine tails, and
drive those spectators out of the or
away from the church is a question,
do not propose to decide; but suggest
those wishing to get money for benev,
olent purposes by selling cakes, candy,
peanuts or beer, that they open a con.