39. IDOLS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIONS 277
The idols in which man trusts may or may not be represented before his physical eyes by a device or figure of wood or stone, or by a pictorial representation. The higher and more fully developed are the man's mental powers, the less need he has of such a representation of his idol. The poor savage, and the man of low intelligence, require a materialization of their idol or image to help them to fix their thoughts upon it, and in order that their fellow-worshippers may have something tangible around which to gather. But the doctor of philosophy can pay his reverential service to a mere abstraction, and needs only a name (preferably a long one) whereby his idea may be identified, for the purpose of worshipful communion with others who trust in the same idol. Yet even such highly civilized idolaters are in the habit of calling upon the resources of art to furnish visible representations of the idols which their own imaginations have called into existence, and to whose supposed superhuman powers they are trusting, and teaching others to trust, for the blessing of mankind. Illustrations of this form of idolatry, which are familiar to all intelligent persons, will be given later on.
The act of setting up an idol, whatever its form or name, involves the tacit assumption that man, though unable himself to remove the evils within and around him, is nevertheless capable of producing something, or starting some movement, or setting some agencies into operation, which can do for him the things that he cannot do directly for himself. Such thing, movement, or agency, which is to accomplish results beyond the power of the man who creates or starts it into operation, is truly an idol. It has no real existence, being a mere abstraction, and of course has no power of its own.
Thus it will be seen, upon close scrutiny, that the various agencies in which the modern man is trusting for the improvement and ultimate salvation of humanity, and to which he gives various imposing names of his own choice, are human in their origin. The power attributed to them, and the results expected from them, all involve the tacit assumption that man, if unable to save himself directly, is nevertheless able to create a god and saviour, or as many gods and saviours as may be needed, to accomplish the great work of raising mankind into the ideal condition of peace, righteousness, and universal contentment.
Man, whose strength and energies, both physical and mental, depend absolutely upon material food and drink, which must be supplied to him (for he cannot create them), thus indulges the folly of supposing that, with the strength derived from these material things, he can create agencies, or start and carry on movements, capable of lifting him up and out of the evil moral atmosphere in which he has always existed since the Fall.
Thus, if the chain of cause and effect as it exists in human thought be traced to its end, it will be found
MAN'S SCHEME OF SALVATION that the desired result for which humanity strives (which we may call "salvation") is to be accomplished by means of agencies which are the product of merely human energies, which in turn are the product of material substances (food and drink) supplied gratuitously to man out of the storehouse of nature. Man's scheme of salvation is thus seen to have its basis in food and drink. Yet this scheme of salvation commends itself to the "modern man," because it is more "rational" to believe in it than to believe in the revelation of the God who created man, and who "caused the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man: that He may bring forth food out of the earth" (Ps. civ. 14), without which food, man and all his imaginations would quickly perish. Such is "rationalism," and such is the nature of the human reason which, to the modern man, is the final authority and arbiter of truth.
THE METHOD OF IDOL-MAKING
The method which man pursues in fashioning his idols next claims attention. That method is Divinely described in Isaiah xliv., and a brief consideration of this important chapter will show that, while man has, during the intervening centuries, changed the forms of his idols, he has not changed his method of making them.
In the first part of the chapter, Jehovah declares Himself to be the only God and Saviour, and pledges Himself to bring full redemption and deliverance to His people. "Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: I am the first and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God" (ver. 6).¹
But in the very presence of this revelation which God gives of Himself as Redeemer and Deliverer, and in the face of His revealed purposes in grace towards helpless and needy men, the latter give themselves over to fashioning idols. But "they that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity, and the things that they delight in shall not profit" (ver. 9).
And this is how the idol-maker proceeds:—
"The smith maketh an axe and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; yea, he is hungry and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint" (ver. 12).
The idol-maker himself fabricates the very tools out of which he makes his idol, and the latter, which is to do things far beyond the power of its own maker, is formed by the strength of man's arm. And that strength is not the puny creature's own. Its continuance, so long as it lasts, depends upon food, and for that he is dependent upon God. If he hungers, his
¹ The translation is that of the Amer. R.V.
"THE FIGURE OF A MAN"
strength fails. If he drinks no water, he becomes faint. Without these supplies he cannot go on with his idol-making.
"The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it with a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a MAN, according to the beauty of Man" (ver. 13).
Back of the gods which men make, is always the figure of Man himself; for the one who makes the gods is necessarily greater than the gods he makes; and the maker of the idols naturally serves also as the model upon which they are fashioned.
"He maketh a god and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; and with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, I am warm, I have seen the fire; and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god" (vers. 15-17).
This passage speaks of two kinds of gratification for which the heart of man seeks, namely (1), warmth, that is physical comforts, and (2) food, that is the things which satisfy the natural appetites. The idol-maker is represented as making his idol of the same materials, and by the same processes, employed in supplying these physical gratifications. We may safely assert that this description of what constitutes the essence of idol-making was never more applicable than at the present day. The boast of the age is the great progress which man has made, and is making, along material lines. By his natural powers man has wonderfully multiplied methods and appliances for ministering to his physical comforts and conveniences, and for satisfying his natural appetites. The factors of this progress are the natural powers of man, exercised in the making of inventions and in the construction of mechanical appliances of all sorts; and the chief results of this progress are—(1) things which minister to the comforts of man, and (2) things which respond to the desires and appetites of the natural heart,—“he burneth part thereof in the fire,” thus making himself comfortable; “and with part thereof he eateth flesh,” thus satisfying his desires.
Furthermore, man gains these ends (that is to say, warmth or comfort, and food or gratification of the natural desires) by exerting his own natural powers upon material substances, as wood and metal. By the very same powers, exerted upon the same substances, he fashions a god, to which he says, “Deliver me, for thou art my god.” For to what is the modern man looking for deliverance but to the very progress which he is himself achieving by the manipulation of the