Idolatry in Washington, D. C.
By John N. Quinn
Pomp and pageantry appeal to the majority of the human family, especially when connected with religious service. Roman Catholicism, with its altars and incense, its cathedrals and choirs, its cloisters and candles, its priests and acolytes, succeeds in holding millions of men in spiritual and mental bondage. On Sunday, May 28, Washington, D. C., witnessed a remarkable demonstration, when thirty thousand men, in ranks of sixteen, marched to the Washington Monument to witness the celebration of a military mass. The scene was so entirely foreign to the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ as to suggest the Middle Ages rather than the twentieth century. The President of the United States was present, as well as others who are prominent in national political life. When the host was exalted, the President uncovered his head, as did every one else, except a few who looked upon the service as gross idolatry and superstition. When an act of worship is rendered to anything created, that act becomes idolatry. When the vast throng uncovered its head to a piece of bread, we have idolatry pure and simple. There are thirteen million persons in this country, who, if they had been present, would have joined in the idolatry. How blind the human mind when not controlled by the Holy Spirit! How different the gospel of Jesus Christ! Christ in the wafer, is the cry of Romanism. Christ in the believer, is the truth of the gospel. To know the abiding presence of a living Christ, keeping us in the love of the truth, freeing us from the thraldom of sin and superstition and idolatry,—what experience more blessed? If the Romanist but knew him whom to know is life eternal, how nauseating would become the idolatry of the mass, and how refreshing to his soul would become the simplicity of the worship of Jehovah! Centralization of worship ended with the cross, as did also priests and altars and ritualism. Men no longer worship at Mount Gerizim or Ebal or Moriah; when the heart is filled with the love of God, the spirit of worship will manifest itself as it did in the life of him who went about doing good, who was simplicity personified.