p. 16 | A Tinsel Age

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

A Tinsel Age.

In writing on "The Evolution of Dress of a Hundred Years," Lillian Ferguson, a bright and observant writer, remarks:—

" 'Tis a tinsel age that we live in, an era of cheap finery, vulgar display, and manufactured pretense. The looms are weaving lies in the shape of imitation goods. No article of beauty in gem or fabric form passes the port of commerce but a rank outsider in cleverly copied duplicate seeks admittance with it. Not alone is our gingerbread gilt—we are gold-foiled and tin-foiled at every turn, until we almost begin to wonder if the stars themselves are not paste diamonds in a heavenly tiara, and the blue canopy above us merely a breadth of dyed cotton that will fade in the next winter's wash."

And it is true, in religion as everywhere else. It is an age of counterfeits, and if a woman of the world sees it, how much more ought Christians! There is so much of seeming in the world that is not real that people are led to doubt that which is true and genuine. Faith wavers because of abounding falsehood. Love grows cold because of abounding lawlessness. And yet all the tawdry tinsel of the world proves the existence of the true. And the true is found in Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.