Nevada County picayune., 1890-01-01

Thon shalt not make unto thee any gravcn image pr any likeness of anything that |. in heaS en above, that l. in the earth beneath, or that i. in the under the earth, thou shalt not bow down myself unto them, nor serve them Exodus ] l. ,.
 The worship of images or idols is perhaps more offensive to the divine 1 being that any other sin, and ac cordingly we find that the prohibit ! ton of it is more emphatic, and the penalty annexed thereto more em- 1 phatic than ordinary sins. In fact, ! God himself declares in connection with this specific command that he is a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, etc.. all of which shows that the crime in question is exceedingly offensive to Him, and that he will tolerate no rival in hls worship. The grosser forms of idolatry. such as the wor ship of images of wood and stone, are pracuced ny the heather world to-day to a greater or less extent, and have been more or less in all ages.
 When God separated unto himself peculiar people, as he did in the case of the Israelites, he specially en- joined upon them to refrom the idol atrous practices of the heather na- tions round about them. The heavi- est judgments inflicted upon the chosen people were sent on account of the violation of this command. But there is a more refined species of idolatry which prevails to greater or less extent in so-called Christian lands, and which is equally Obnox 1 ious to the charge of violation of the divine law, and doubtless equally of 1 fensive to the majesty of Jehovah. We refer to the worship of money, or to the practice of making any oth- CT thing the object of our supreme affection.
 In civilized countries, in lands en- joying the blessings of gospel light. l it is lamentable fact that this species of idolatry prevails to a fear ful extent. Pleasure, ambition, money, luxury. ease, and various other things usurp the first place in l the affections of the people, and God is thus practically ruled out of the world by being dethroned from his supremacy in the heart. Even in the church of the living God, the place above all others where we least expect it, covetousness, which the Apostle Paul says is idolatry, prevails to an alarming extent, and but little effort is made by discipline to purge the sanctuary of the foul abomination.
 While drunkenness and some oth- CT gross crimes are subjected to dis ciplinary measures, it is exceedingly rare to hear of any steps being taken to rectify or eliminate this great evil. It is doing more harm to our beloved Zion to-day than any other evil, and the church owes it to her divine head, as well as to the cause of evan gelical progress, to put away this abomination from the holy place. But there is another phase of this question which we desire to present, to which attention is seldom if ever directed one, too, which although it is very refined and seemingly venial, nevertheless involves a grave viola tion of the divine law. We refer to the custom in many churches of adorning the walls of houses of wor- ship with pictures of our blessed Savior, in order to illustrate Sabbath school lessons, and also to the prac- tice of illustrating our large Bibles with similar pictures. This whole thing is palpable violation of the law forbidding idolatry, although no direct homage is offered or intended by these pictorial illustrations.
 It is strange that ministers of the Gospel should connive at or tacitly indorse these violations of the funda- mental law of the Christian system; for by SO doing they impair the sanc- tity of the divine law, and lessen the binding force of its authority. The making of pictures designed to rep resent the Supreme Being is as much violation of the second command ment as the making of graven images for the same purpose-the making of 1 both is forbidden, as we'll as the wor- ship of them when made. To guard against idolatry, God has seen fit not