SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 6

SUNDAY READING.

SERMON' preached bv REV. JAMES OHARTERIS at Fitzroy Primitive Methodist Church.

'Tor thou shalt worship no other god."—Exodus 34-14.

There are three facts, each of them fully developed in the experience of the human family, a consideration of which will reveal the meaning of the words of the Eternal. When considered in their relation to each other and in their bearing on the moral interests of mankind, they will he seen to be of exceeding importance. AA'e will adduce these facts in connection with the statements and principles upon which they rest, and show how vital are the interests which depend upon them.

THE FIRST FACT STATED,

Inherent in the nature and composition of man is the desire to recognise and worship—something impels him to worship. The nature of that "something" is not important in our present enquiry—whether it be a constitutional instinct wrought by the Maker; whether it be a deduction of. universal reason, inferring a first cause from the whole phenomena of creation; whether it be the ell'ect of tradition descending from the first worshippers, through all the tribes of the human family; whether any or all of these be the cause, the fact remains that man is a religious being; he will worship. Navigators in a few instances reported that isolated tribes of men visited by them have offered allegiance and devotion to no supreme person or power, but later investigation has exposed, the fallacy. To-day there scarcely is a single authenticated instance of exception to tne fact that, moved by an impulse of nature or force of circumstances, man worships something which he believes to be' endowed with the attributes of a superior being. ■'■■■''' ■• ■

THE SECOND FACT STATED. The second fact, connected as it is by the nature of. things .with the preceding, assumes the highest, degree of important*. Man by worshipping becomes assimilated to the moral'character of the Being worshipped. This is'a'n invariable principle, operating with the certainty of, cause and effect.;" The worsiiipp'eT' views' the worshipped'' as perfection:' Therefore any qualities in himself iiot'approv. Ed or indicated in the object worshipped are condemned. His aspir'atibiis. are to become like.the.'tfbject' worshipped.' History is the only absolutely' reliable witness, i Put into the witness ' box- '.for cross-examination, what has. history to say? Anexampfe: The Scythians and other tribes of jwWi subdued and finally annihilated I the ) Rpnia,n power, worshipped,Odini ; T-hor, a;nd, crther,.supposed' deities.; , ed flip mi)k;of human kindness lintq,gall in;thfe bosoms of their (votaries. One' of their detjes was; supposed, toislay.himself, Hence suicide foecani'e; ar.necessa-ry qualification for admittance! to- the- hall' of .'Valhalla.

■ Gre'ece and Rome showed the same degenerate tendencies, under the influence' off the worship of some of their gods, who seemed to personify lusty ettprice or ■ rrengejance,' > The heroism l fo'steied 'by idolatry was at lefet ha rniless'influence. couplet is an excel! of manyj of the prevailing conceptions of divinity: ' '' ' ' ',— :','■ • I' • ■' 1 1 ! ,-;r '■ "l! '. '•■ "Gdds, partial, changeful,..passionate,, lunjust,' ; ■, .-.,( '.?■■;;: "' "■■

Whose attributes were rqgOj revenge, land lust." ; "-' ; .-.', ;■.;• ;".-.','■■,[ '1 •; : The influence' of; VenW.Vp'it; Corinth—"Corinth, the eye of Gree^'e"--fis ! top well knowm to require elatforatibri.'.yhilb l sophefs, 'even" in n .the" Wjftfey r oif'Mola;. trous' worship, spoke strongly a'gain'st the .pernicious and degr'adny* 'lnfluerfce of many lof. their national V-Ma-to's book', (if "the Repubiw' constant loutcryV.bf the danger' to' youth' from tjhe eyil'.ihfluen.cer of, popular deities.' Aristojtle condemned ; .many pf the statutes Erected in honor of ,;the (Varipus gods. I Idolatrous worship became the national cancer of Rome, andi, Greece.. tues erected in honor,; of, the various, deities! in language and expression,;, that;' would not have been tolerated by a fel-low-being. So vile was the-worship that Seneca! once declared^'How,great is;the madnels of mart; ■ they; lisp :the •.most abomirablc prayers.'r'i i,MPdes:n-i idol-: atry 'bus ndt altered thfermoral stahdar.tL: of worship. Take trfo-modeni instances,' Buddhism and Mohammedanism. Oak-' ley, a magistrate in Beriga'P, says:-"All' heinoui UMi it'hfe 1 intention 1 of the'propitiation of their b\yil parti-] cular (jleity. The worship of Kale is most degrading'."' To'tM Moliamnredari the crjj which for a tiine awetl 1 Chris^ep 1 dqm stjill is popular: "Tho t s\yord'or Mahomjet!"-' ', No .'act; .'is ' wrong or sinful if-the .end. attained is the of Moha'mniedanisni.-,'- T.l ie effect of j such teaching' on 'the; 'cliar.acterist'ically enthusiastic follower'of 'Mahpine,t is hefttor thought' than..spoken.' ~""..■.,

Two fjacta, tlien, are pnilosophically and historically gious bping and will worship .'something as. superior; (2) Man; by worship' be'-' comes jissimilated, to- the ; vpbject; of, Ives; ■worsfiipj. With the exception 'pi, Go.ci,, all objects oLw.orship bate .'hail'a decided'' degrading effect. ' '.Any is impossible; since man's besf attempt, to conceive a-god has only 'siic'ceededj in'. delineating the apotheosis.of.heroes,-or; the deification of imperfect natiiral faculties. , |}ould man's unaided power have save him from the. .faults' in liis .o ; wii : conceived deities? In,reply, '; ■. :,:.-, r---THE THIRD' FACT IS" STATED! •

"There were no means to man whereby man could avoid'the 1 evils'-of idolatry}, either "by an immediate act or by. progressive series of endeavor*."; 1. As J the age of the human 'race increased,' instead of niaiv having increased power to re-model and ; eliminate the faults of idolatry, .lie 1 , had lessened power. ; The earliest'state of idolatry known to us must have been very simple and comparatively pure, . .Society tended 'gradually downward.,until the simplicity and purity, had departed; and, with the growing evil, there, came that still more unfortunate fact, the lack of desire for improvement. Statues, although ; once forbidden, became numerous and obscene. . -' ■■- ... i . : .'

■ 2. During the Augustan, age oi Rome and Pericles in Greece, in .spite, of--the fact that never before had the idolatrous mind reached an.-..alti.tu.de of perfection, the most; painful and shocking degradation was rampant in city and country. In; vain the phjlosp-. pliers tried to alter the current o.f popular worship; in vain they strove tOjinake men see the inevitable end. of such pro 1 ceedings—idolatry that permitted' the satisfaction of any wish or desire had captured public opinion.

3. The nature of man made man's own deliverance impossible. The relief could only lie in the presentation of an object of worship, who was the antithesis of the fornu r idols. But man could not conceive of any greater object of moral purity than his own debased standpoint could dictate. ' So, again, the remedy was •beyond all human aid. Human faculties at the best are not perfect, so that to expect an imperfect being to, form a deity and worship a Perfect is to sidetrack reason and ignore experience. Even provided a. pure object of worship had been presented, no man had the power to arrest the degraded effects of idol worship. The highest moral attainment of the philosophers was to

doubt the influence of idolatry; beyond that they could not go. , .

Tims wo have seen from the nature of idolatry, from philosophers and from the nature of man that reform from man's own ranks was impossible. God teaches ns His will by discipline, and behind the words of the texts we can see the tragic wrecks of (ireecc and Rome, where lies that Power invincible, which with all our craft and subtlety bring* down punishment. We may escape the punishment for a time and think ourselves too important to hoed the Word of' God. but it took hundreds of years to punish fully the sensuous idolatry of many of earth's oldest nations. So let us not forget that "The mills of God grind slowly," but with that certainty which characterises the Infinite One.