The "Thirteen" Superstition

1910

According to reliable authorities the popular superstition that attaches to the number 13 owes its origin to the story of "The Last Supper." For unreckoned centuries the superstition has been universal that if 13 persons sit down to a meal at the same table one of them will die before the year is out. This doubtless comes from the Biblical feast when Christ sat down at table with his 12 disciples.


Those Small Pledges

When the minister views the display of millinery this morning, he will begin to understand why ten cents a week is all that some of his parishioners can afford to subscribe.

Spilled Salt in the "Lord's Supper" Picture

1900

Salt

Spilling salt was held to be an unlucky omen by the Romans, and the superstition has descended to ourselves. Leonardo da Vinci availed himself of this tradition in his famous picture of the "Lord's Supper" to indicate Judas Iscariot by the saltcellar knocked over by his arm.

Salt was used in the sacrifice by the Greeks and Romans and also by the Jews. It was an emblem of purity and of the sanctifying influence on others of a holy life. Hence our Lord tells his disciples, "Ye are the salt of the earth." The salt being spilt after it was placed on the head of the victim was considered a bad omen, being supposed to signify that the sacrifice was not accepted, and hence the superstition.

When we say of the shiftless fellow that he does not "earn his salt" we unconsciously allude to an ancient custom among the Romans. Among them a man was said to be in possession of a "salary" who had his "salarium," his allowance of salt money, or salt, wherewith to savor the food by which he lived. Thus salary comes from salt, and in view of the word how many there are who do not "earn their salt."

Jesus Institutes the Lord's Supper

1949

Illustrated Sunday School Lesson
By Alfred J. Buescher

Scripture — Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-38

1) On the first day of the Passover, Jesus sent forth two disciples into the city and told them they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water upon his head. Follow him.

2) Where the man with the water pitcher went they were to ask the master of the house where they should eat the Passover, and he would show them an upper room.

3) In the evening the Master sat with the twelve, and they ate, and He said to them, "One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me." And they asked Him, "Is it I?"

4) Jesus took bread, blessed and brake it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me."

MEMORY VERSE — 1 Cor. 11:24.

LISTEN TO SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON OVER WSIC 10 TO 10:30 EVERY SUNDAY Sponsored by G. L. WILSON BUILDING COMPANY, INC. 153 EAST WATER STREET PHONE 533 STATESVILLE, N.C.

—Statesville Record, Statesville, North Carolina, May 21, 1949.

Pastor Begins Tour Around the World

1921

Sheboygan Pastor Begins Grand Tour

The Rev. J. W. Perry, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in this city, left yesterday afternoon for Milwaukee on his tour around the world. He was joined in Milwaukee by his brother, the Rev. Enoch Perry, industrial missionary of the city of Milwaukee, and they left on the nine o'clock train for Banff, Alberta. They expected to stop at Banff a day and continue to Vancouver, leaving there Nov. 12 on the Canadian-Australian steamship Niagara for Australia.

Communion was administered as the parting ceremony in the church Sunday morning. At the close of the service, the Rev. Perry dismissed the communicants from the altar with a brief admonition to "Go in peace." He did not conclude his benediction because of intense solemnity of the occasion.

With a few brief remarks, the Rev. Mr. Perry was in the midst of a veil of tears and his congregation almost to the individual joined to a greater or slighter degree with him. "Blest Be the Tie that Binds" was sung as the concluding hymn.

—Sheboygan Press-Telegram, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, November 7, 1921, page 10.