The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-05-29
SER MON BY
REV. ]. SHAPE


ond Commandment" or "The sin 0
Idolatry."
Last LoId's Day evening our con
sideration was confined to the objec
of worship. This evening to th'
mode of worship. The first com
mandment declared against othe
Gods; the second against false repre-
sentatons of God. He is his owl
representative. That forbids poly
thesm; this forbids idolatry, that en-
joined worship; this regulates it. Th'
Divine God who has been and is abl'
to supply all our needs, realized th
craving of the human heart and him
self satisfies it. There is no peopl
on the face of the globe that wor
ships not. Plutarch S words are a
true as they are weighty when hi
says: "If we traverse the world
it is possible to find cities with
out walls, without letters. withou
kings, without wealth, without coin
without schools, and theatres; but
city without temple, or that practi
ceth not worship, prayer and the like
no one ever saw.
Every nation has its God. He ma.
be the "Invisible Odin" Of the North
men: the "Great Spirit of the N
a. Indians; the "Zena' of the Greeks
the Jupiter of the Romans: the Sal
lab, " of the Mussulman: the "Jeho
yah of the Jew or the God of th'
Chris tian. 1t was easy for finite
minds tc make human representative
of God to aid them in worshippine
Him, and it was but another step tc
worshi p the repres entation. AS the
lsraelites gather about the Golden
Calf in ido!atrous worship, the cry
that sounds in Moses car and sting!
his soul to righteous indignation, as
he descends from the mount is no
"thcse are representations Of The
God who brought us out Of Egypt, bu
these are the Gods which brought us
up out of Egypt, out of the house o
bondage. Why should we not wor
ship the images that more certainly
image upon our hearts the image o
the Master? Luther once said, "If
have picture of Christ in my heart
why not one upon canvass" Ant
President Strong in his Systematic
Theology has well answered, because
the picture in the heart is capable o
change and improvement, as we our
selves change and improve; the pic
ture on the canvas is fixed, and hold:
us to old conceptions which we shoult
outgrow.'
Because of the tendency of the hui
man heart to prostitute its elf. by
idolatrous prostration and because o
the polytheistic experience of th'
jewish nation in Egypt comes OH
Second Commandment: ,"Thou shal
not make unto thee any craven i'm
age, or any likeness of any thing tha
is in heaven above, or that is in thu
earth beneath, or that is in the waite
under the earth: thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them, nor serve then
for the Lord thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity Of th'
fathers upon the children into th'
third and fourth generation Of them
that hate me; and showing mercy
unto thousands of them that love nj
and keep my commandments.
/. There are just two things il
the text that need special attention
and the first is this. What is TIN
true meaning Of idolatry and why il
it prohibited?
Prof. James NJ. Sitter, d. D., ha
well said:
The basest, blackest sin on earth il
idolatry. 1t is the har lot mother o
every immortality. 1t pulled dow
the curtains of the windows through
which streamed light and left th'
world in darkness to commit every
abominatiop. Gods first law ant
God S second law are against it. Th'
hottest walls Of his wrath have beer
poured out upon it, 1dolatry is neces
sariy and essentially SANDER or
God. The devil has been called Gods
ape. But in that inimic9l catalogue
the world, the flesh and the devil, yol
see the world and the flesh outranb
Him. Idolatry is the invention O.
men. How can an idol represent God;
lie is incorruptible, and everything
beneath the sun is perishable. lie Is
living and everything here below
even natural man, is dead. lie is in
finitcly beneiicent. and except Hin
all else is selfish. Fallen man could
neither be nor produce likeness oI
the living, gracious, incolruptibIe Goo
and every attempt was hideous Car.
feature and Insult which he resented
as he resented nothing else. The
heather is a chief of sinners because
he is an idolater. The niche for God S
likeness in the worlds temple was tc
be left vacant until lie himself should
give that similitude. And in due
time the likeness came, 1.-THE bright.
ness Of His glory and the express i'm.
age of His person" Ileb. l: 3), fol
Christ is "God manifest in the flesh
q Tim. 3: l6), incorruptible, ever
living. infinitely gracious.
l pause to ask this question. Are
we to cease to worship, all aids to wor.
ship for fear that we should be led tC
worship the aids? Is music to be ex.
cludrd from the house Of God? And
painting? and the stereopticon:
And the phonograph? For these are
all now used. Are we to have an or
nate or a plain service? Once there
was very strenuous objections to the
use of music, and Friends every.
where insisted upon the plainest ser.
vice in the meeting house. Is a full
orchestra sinful? And Is the pine