But we have a much more serious and conclusive proof than tins that nearly the entire retinue of Christian professors are practical idolaters, and that their "holy religion," in all its essential characteristics, comprises, in its very nature, the highest species of idolatry. Some Christian professors tell us that those who worship idols must have a limited conception of the character and attributes of the Deity; thus conceding that idolatry consists in ascribing to God a false character. Well, now, this is the very objection which we would urge as one of the first, and one of the most serious charges against the Christian system. It presents us with a cramped, dwarfish, and childish conception of Deity. In the first place, the disciples of Christianity still cling to the old tradition, which they inherited from the heathen, of investing God with the form and characteristics of a man. For if the Deity possesses the human form, as they and their Bible teach, then he must possess the human characteristics,—a logical sequence, which science defies all Christendom to overturn, as it is the infallible testimony of the natural history of all time that nothing can possess the form of one being and the characteristics of another. As is form, so is and must be the character, is an axiom supported by numberless proofs of daily and hourly observation. Hence, Jesus Christ possessing, according to the scriptures, the form of a man,—"the form of a servant,"—must inevitably have possessed the character of a man. Hence we are not surprised to find, that, in spite of the combined efforts of his evangelical biographers to make him a God (if they are really to be understood as designing to elevate him to the Godhead), his finite human qualities are dis-played in his history in every chapter. Every saying and every credible incident of his life prove him to have been a man, notwithstanding some of them are apparently set forth as prima-facie evidence of his being a God. Therefore the conclusion that, as Jesus Christ had the form of a man, he could not have been a God; and to worship him as such was and is idolatry in the highest and fullest sense. And, besides the form, there are other evidences of his having been a man. He walked, talked, ate, slept, wept, shed tears, &c., and finally died just as other men do. And, furthermore, he believed and taught some of the traditions and superstitions of finite, ignorant men,—such as a vengeful God, an endless hell, disease produced by demons, a personal devil, the speedy conflagration of the world, &c. Thus we have a threefold proof of his manhood, and disproof of his Godhead, and a proof that those who worship him are idolaters. And as the primitive or primordial Bible God Jehovah is represented as possessing, as we have already shown, a comprehensible body, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, arms, legs, feet, bowels, &c., and as being a jealous, angry, revengeful, fighting God (the God of battles), and inferior in several respects to some of the men who worshiped him, such worship is consequently idolatry. We observe, then, that the Jews worshiped one idol (Jehovah); and the Christians, three ("Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"),—the two former possessing the form of man, and the latter the form of a bird (a dove). There is exactly the same objection, and it is to exactly the same extent idolatry, to worship Jesus Christ as to worship Chrishna, Confucius, Mahomet, or any of the wooden Gods or graven images of the idolatrous pagans. In each case it is assuming that God, instead of being eternally infinite in all his attributes, has been invested with the finite, limited, and comprehensible form of man, to say nothing of the corresponding finite qualities which his worshipers have assigned him. And this narrow, childish assumption, with its attendant conceptions, keeps the mind of the worshiper in an intellectually cramped and dwarfish condition, besides perpetuating their dishonorable and disparaging views of Deity. And herein lies the great objection to idolatry. If any of these venerated beings could possess divine attributes, there would be less moral objection to worshiping them as Gods. The error is not in ascribing divine attributes to the wrong being, but in the conception of wrong qualities and attributes as comprehensible in a divine being.
For God is not possessed of the vanity to be offended by the simple mistakes of men and women directing their prayers and devotions to another being or object instead of to him. The grand error consists in mistaking the real character and attributes of Deity; that is, in constructing false images of him,—whether mental or material is all the same. In other words, idolatry consists in worshiping, for God, beings or objects possessing finite forms, with whom, consequently, infinite and divine attributes could not be properly associated, and through whom they could not possibly be displayed. And so self-evident was the proof that these beings, possessing the form, size, and physical outline of men, and presenting every appearance of men (as Christ, Chrishna, Confucius, &c.), were nothing but men, that even those who were habitually taught to adore them as the supreme, omnipotent Deity, naturally and instinctively, in their intercourse with them and their descriptions of them, invested them with human qualities as well as divine. And thus they came to present to the world the awkward and ludicrous figure of beings displaying both finite and infinite attributes,—i.e., of being demi-gods, half God and half man. This is especially true of "the man Christ Jesus." And it may be safely assumed as an incontrovertible proposition, that just so long as men are in the habit of worshiping beings in the human form, whether Jehovah or Jesus Christ, or beings possessing any conceivable form as the great "I am," just so long will they entertain, to their own injury and to the disgrace of religion, inferior and dishonorable views of God. They must learn that a finite body can not contain an infinite spirit, nor possess an infinite attribute; and that to worship an object or being known to possess or even supposed to possess any conceivable form, size, or shape within the comprehension of man, whether the materials composing this adored object or being are gold, silver, wood, brass, iron, or flesh and blood (as in the case of Jesus Christ), constitutes the highest species of idolatry. It can make no difference what the materials are, as it is just as impossible to associate divine and infinite attributes with an image of flesh and blood or a finite body, as to associate them with an image of wood, stone, or metal. All is alike idolatry.
The Christian world have an image or idol, constructed in part of flesh and blood, restricted, as they tell us, to a spiritual body, which they call Jesus Christ, and which they place upon an imaginary throne situated in or above the clouds, and worship it as God; while the Babylonians had the same image carved from wood and metal, which they called Dagon, and set upon a throne in the temple: and, in both cases, we are told, by way of apology, that it was not the external form, or outward body, which constituted the divinity, but the spirit within. Now, as there is room in infinite space for millions of such beings (such finite Gods), there could be no moral objection to multiplying their number, and worshiping as many of them as the imagination could conjure up, or the polytheist's fancy could create. We worship none but the infinite God; the living, moving, all-pervading, and all-energizing spirit of the infinite universe, who has no finite or comprehensible body, and never had; and hence, being infinite in extent and in all his attributes, but one such being can possibly exist, and monotheism thus becomes a virtue and a necessity. We will only remark further, that the man who can worship a being with the human form or any form as the infinite God, no matter if he swells his proportions by imagination to the size of the planet Jupiter or the whole solar system, yet still, as this is not one step of an approach toward infinitude or omnipresence, his conceptions of Deity are puerile, childish, belittling, and dishonorable, if not blasphemous. If there is such a thing as blasphemy, it is found here. And his ignorance of the essential characteristics of an infinite being, or the scientific view of God, is on a par with the child's ignorance of astronomy, who exclaims, "Give me the moon!" Here we desire to apprise the reader more distinctly that we do not regard idolatry as a crime or blameworthy act in those who originated it, but actually useful when restricted to its legitimate uses. To those groveling in spiritual darkness, on the lower plane of religious development, it is as "eyes to the blind, and crutches to the lame." It is only in those, who, like Christians, profess to be enlightened, that it becomes a culpable act. Several writers have shown that idols were really practically useful, in a religious point of view, in the primitive spiritual condition of mankind, and are yet so to the lower classes in various countries; that is, to those who dwell upon the sensorial plane, and whose spiritual perceptions are hence too feeble to soar to an ethereal world to find the great object of spiritual worship. The learned Hindoo, Roh Mun Roy, who wrote a work against idolatry, and who condemned the Christian churches for "worshiping an idol in the person of Jesus Christ," beautifully sets forth the true nature and purpose of idolatry when he says (after stating that idols were not made for the learned), "The Vedas [Hindoo Bible] directs those who are spiritually incapable of adoring the invisible Supreme Being to apply their minds to some visible object as an external manifestation of the only true God, rather than lose themselves in the mazes of irreligion, the bane of society. As God exists everywhere, and pervades every thing (even idols), such means were mercifully provided for the ignorant and untrained to lead them on to true mental adoration and spiritual worship." And thus idols were used as aids and stepping-stones to the true worship for those who were mentally incapable of raising their minds from "nature up to nature's God," as taught by this heathen writer. Thus they served the same purpose as pictures do for children, and were equally innocent and useful. It is, therefore, no more sinful to be an idolater than to be a child. In fact, idolatry was a necessity of man's religious nature. The Vedas makes God say, "The ignorant believe me visible while I am invisible." The able, pious Abel Fezzel (a Mahomedan writer) says, in his "Aren Akberry," "The Brahmins and Hindoos all believe in the unity of the God-head; yet they hold images in high veneration, because they represent celestial beings, and prevent the mind from wandering." Swedenborg says in like manner, "The heathen kept images not only in their temples, but in their houses, not to worship them, but to call to mind the heavenly being they represented." Thus it will be observed that the idol was the sanctuary where man, in his childhood, met to commune with his God, just as the Christian now seeks his spiritual presence at the communion-table or the altar. The pagan, who was a child in religious experience, was morally necessitated to have a God, or representation of God, he could see, feel, and handle. And it is remarkable that the Christian world, after two thousand years' religious experience, still occupy the same plane,—are still pagans or children with respect to believing in visible external Gods, as they virtually worship two, Jehovah and Jesus Christ, who, according to the teaching of their Bible and their established creeds, were often seen in the human form, and one of them with a human body. Thus it will be observed they have not outgrown or advanced beyond the essential principle of idolatry,—that of worshiping a visible or imaginary form for an invisible God, who, the "positive philosophy" teaches, never has been and never can be seen under any circumstances, because, being omnipresent (that is, present everywhere, and everywhere alike), if he could be seen at all, he could be seen at all times and in all places. This is a self-evident, axiomatic truth.
Origin of Idolatry.—Here we deem it proper to speak more directly and specifically of the primary origin of idolatry, or image-worship, than is disclosed in the preceding pages. After the primitive inhabitants of the earth had conceived the notion that the sun, moon, and stars are moved in their orbits through the heavens by beings who occupied them (as has already been shown), they were in the habit of gazing upon these tower-lights of the Elvsian fields (the home of the Gods) with the most intense delight, the most reverential awe and devotion. But ever and anon this pleasing reverie was interrupted, and subjected to sad suspense, by "the departure of the heavenly host to other and distant lands." First of all, the solar God, mounted upon his gem-wheeled chariot drawn by his fleet steeds, after plowing his way through the deep-blue vault of the sky, was off on his swift-sped journey behind the western hills, but followed almost immediately by the whole retinue of stellar orbs (the homes of the lesser Gods), who danced along in his wake; but, ever true to the line of march, followed on apace, and were soon beyond the bounds of human vision. This left an aching void in their devout minds. Hence the invention and construction of images as imaginary likenesses of the Gods, to serve as substitutes for them, to be venerated in their stead daring their absence, as we secure the likeness of a friend when about to leave us for a journey, or to be long absent. And here we may date the primary origin of idolatry, which is nothing more nor less than the first rude germination of man's religious nature.
II. ALL CHRISTIANS ATHEISTS OR IDOLATERS.
It seems most strikingly strange that atheism and idolatry should be considered by the orthodox representatives of the Christian faith as "the most God-defying and heaven-daring sins that man can be guilty of" (as one Christian writer represents them to be), when there is not a professor of the Christian faith, and never has been, who was not guilty most unquestionably of one of these sins. It requires but a few words to prove this statement. Nearly all the early Christian writers defined atheism to be "disbelief in a personal God," and idolatry as "image-making."
How obtuse must have been their perceptions that they could not see that their definition of these terms made them all either atheists or idolaters, and that it is impossible to escape one of these charges without becoming obnoxious to the other! No person can believe in a personal God without forming an image of him in the mind; and this is just as much idolatry as though that mental image should find expression in wood or stone or brass, as shown in the preceding chapter. On the other hand, to believe in an infinite and spiritual God, instead of a personal God, is, as shown above, atheism. It will be seen, then, to believe in a personal, organized Deity is, to all intents and purposes, idolatry; while to reject this anthropomorphic and sensuous idea, and accept the belief in a spiritual God in its stead, is atheism. And thus the position is reduced to a demonstrated problem, that all Christians are either atheists or idolaters.