The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1894-04-12
CHAUTAUQUA.
ANCIENT AND MODERN lDOLATRY.
by A. Fl. H. of Glass c.

by A. II. H. Of Glass CT
We. of the 10Th century. lay the flattering unc-
ton to our souls that we are Christian people,
far removed above the idolatrOus Pagans of past
ages, and the heathendom of semi or uncivilized
races of our day. Yet. are we not tickling
our souls into a SenSuOuS Security-but hyp-
nothing too willing senses into a Slunlber
from which the awakening will be all the more
awful? What or when shall that awakening be?
Let us review the religious history of the past;
such as it has been revealed to us by tradition or
by the testimony of scrolls and sarcophage, be-
ginning from the early days of Pagan civiliZa-
ton whose wonders are gradually unfolding
themselves from out of the tOmbs of time by the
aid of nquring minds. These have, of late years.
been peering and prying into the secrets of the
sand hills of Egypt which shroud in oblivion the
glOries of an intellectual race whose wisdom and
attachments are but now dawning upon our self
satisfied intelligence. AS far as we know their
religion of some 1000 years ago, was pure mono
thesm-a worship of Divine Truth.
The mind of man. unless kept perpetually at
tuned to the highest key, will not dwell continu-
ously upon the pure abstract 1t Graves for some
thing concrete, something tangible, something it
can individually see and know as creature. SO
self personalities. In Kneph they adored the Gre
ative faculty; in Phthah they recognized the eX-
ecutive hand; in Maui was embodied matter
Thence the descent to the hell of many gods was
easy. Ra the sun; Khem, the generative: Khut
and AthOr the upper and neither worlds; ThOth,
the wisdom of truth; Ammon, its Incompetent
Sbility perhaps chief of the hierarchy, and Osiris
its goodness. These separations (for the defni-
tiOnS which muSt thank RaUInCon,S rafreSh-
ing pages at first were recognized as mere attri
buteS of the Divine Essense but they rapidly
took the place in this that individual, each ac
cOrding to his diosyncrasies of the one great
principle. From the ideal to the idol. was more
rapid and easy the further they got away from a
life of contemplation of the truth itself, and the
less intellectual the wOrshipper. Turn to look
upon that perhaps not less ancient race, the
HlndOO; whose history, however, is to all ntentS
and practical purposes, lost to us by the inter-
ventiOn and miSrue of MOhammedanism. Their
earliest religious aspirations, as indicated to us
by the Nedas. were toward morality; virtue and
truth embodied into personality the gist and
kernal of which remains and is practiced by
some few learned, devOut and austere men whose
lives are beyond any reprOach. But to the mas
SeS of the people, the cOrrOding breath of time
has brought degrading barnacle growth of
ideas of divinity which they have symboliZed by
hideOus idols. From symbolism they have fallen
by the craft of vicious, bigoted priestcraft;
who, for their own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. have perpet-
uated and elaborated these vain deusions
Among them, this idolatry has generated from
the individualiZng of attributes OF the great
central truth creative power. Judgment mercy,
punishment, love GtS human yoke fellow, hate)-
and these in turn subdivided till every possible
Thought of human sensuaty is embodied and
worshipped in the form of craven images with
individual alters, Sirines, rites and sacrtcial
mOnstroSities. However. underlying this para
site growth is pure and beautiful theism whose
doctrines are preached by many d poor, stern
aScetc Brahmin without one single faint of the
base authorizations of centuries of error. / have
heard from Brakmin lips all the cold beauties of
the abstract truth, lacking only that drawing,
personal love OF the MAN Of Sorrows
The religion of Abraham aud the teachings
we have complete history in our Bible; of the
other we only know that it now is a base idolatry
that. starting in the pure. everlasting fountain
of truth, has become turgd aud vile by filtration
through generations of vile humanity. Judaism
remains still: perhaps not in all its purity or
with It's extremes of Sacrlticial cermonial and
harsh doctrine of Judgment and condemnation
from which its believers ever and anon SWerved
as FESTIVE horse frcm under too cruel LASH |
to east thmselves into this that of the surround
ing idOlatries which they deemed most fttinglv
emsodylng their cravings. Starting from the
same source, the children of AShur were quickly
divorced from the truth and wiped out of nation |
al existence, to descend lower and lower till in
the days of Mahomet. they had reached abysmal
depths OF ignorance, vice and departure from
original purity. Greece never descended to grOy- |
cling idolatry, though she erected shrines and
temples to the many phases of truth. But history
shows that she had the advantage of letters and
an advanced civilization, which does not comport
with bowling the knee to mere inanimate objects
or any similitude of things that be-
The GreclanS first iudividnaliZed Love but |
thef ldealizatl0n was OF the material and carnal
love- Or rather passion. and most appropriately
they embodied her of the softer sex and gave her
birth from that great storm centre of instability, |
the ocean. But love was to be the keystone of |
the religious edifce-the keynote of all divine |
harmonies The Creator saw mans craving
knew it when he gave unto the first man a mate
to provide for and cherish, helpmate and SOL
ace when beset by tolls and troubles; so he in
carnated himself into the MAN of Sorrows" to
give one grand, complete example of the sacrifice
OF love. We have accepted him and profess our
selves followers of his God-given doctrines. But
are we not like each and every nation of historic
page, departing from the truth to worship ideals?
Have not nlne-tenths of Christianity cuddled ia
the lnmsst shrines of their baser natures, some
idol which they blindly serve?
what shall be our awakening? We cannot
claim ignorance. Sitting at His right hand, will
be the Light; who will bear witness how many
a time we turned our backs on him to dive into
some dngy shrine of Mammon or Ashtaroth. or
into some glittering temple of Bacchus or Apollo.
Verify, the marriage feast has been spread for
us, but our garments are out of order.
l mean to make myself man. and if T succaad