The St. Johns herald., 1893-07-06
QUEER CHRISTIANS.
A Peculiar S5ct Located in Phil
 aGoiphia.
They ..eugiously Refrain from Eating EEeat-Some Of Their Beliefs and the Conditions Of Church
 Membership.

! IL has often been remarked as curious by residents in the northern portion Of Philadelphia that the block bounded by Broad street, Park avenue, Berlzs street ard Montgomery avenue con tains the smallest church and the largest one in Philadelphia. For those fronting on Broad street is the Baptist temple, with its seating capacity of five thousand, and immediately behind it, fronting on Park avenue, Is the lit tle, quaint, gray stone edifice belong ing to the Bible Christian ckurch, with a seating capacity of probably not one hundred. Quaint it is indeed inside as well as out, as described by the Times. The walls are of wood, some of them plainly whitewashed and hung with the usual illuminated texts, and in place of the luxuriously cushioned .'opera" chairs now introduced into churches, narrow wooden benches, painted gray, are provided for the worshipers, and are perfectly in keep ing with the boarded floor, uncovered save for strip of carpet down the aisle Though the church is really the Bible Christian it is much better known as the "Vegctarian," because vegc- tarianism is cxacted of it's members. This peculiarity of creed is the reason for it's lack of growth and the conse- orent smallness of the ediice. Its creed includes the belief that the laws of health require abstinence from meat or flesh of all kinds and strict ad- herence to farinaceors and vegetable foods. It is claimed by the vegetarians, with the support of scientists to some degree, that some diseases would have had no existence among human beings but for thcir partaLing of the flesh of animals, which, being impregnated with disease microbes, introduced the ills of the animal kingdom into the human family.
 The Bible Christians believe also that the words to be found in the first chapter of Genesis, spoken by God to Adam and Eve-"Bchold, have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of 8 tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for Ineat''-imply a distinct command to partalle only of vegetable foods, and that this commandment was kept until after the food From humanitarian standpoint they are opposed to the wholesale slaughter of animals as cruel. You may have noticed o said member of the church in speaking of it's creed that the same laws of nat ural affection which we acknowledge also govern the action of animals. They love, grieve, joy and suffer in their degree the same as we do i'll ours. They possess many of the higher at- tributes of our nature, such as faithful ness, courage and devotion. This be- ing so we do not feel at liberty to de- strov their lives at random, and though we do not absolutely claim the exist ence of future life for them, yet the reference of St. John in the Apocalypse to the four-footed beasts about the throne remains to be interpreted in some way and seems to point to some thinr of the sort" With the exception of vegeterianism the Bible Christian church differs from other Christian churches but slightly. The conditions of membership in this church-absti- ncnce from meats and intoxicating liquors of all linds-are severe enough to prevent many from joining it, and the membership is at present only be- tween fifty and sixty. Of this number some live in Frankfort, and they are so scattered that it is seldom they all meet together. At their entertainments when the serving of refreshmentsis is included, the uninitated would be amazed to see what diversity of tastes can be suited and what wide a range of choice is re- vealed in the delicate and sl1illful prep aration of vegetable and farinaceous productions