The Idolatry of Nature and Self

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 22, 1907

The Idolatry of Nature and Self

The August number of one of the most widely circulated magazines in this country printed in bold type on its front cover page this sentence: “Commune with Nature whenever and wherever she speaks or sings or paints for you, and your divine being, thrilled into intoxication, will mold the physical into sweeter graces.” This is one of the tenets of that new religion which is now taking a strong hold upon a large portion of the people of this country. It creates a god of its own — Nature — and communes with that, and bows down to that. But it does not stop with that. The creator is never less than the thing created. So the creator in this case — man — takes to himself divinity. Then, with eyes turned in upon that divinity, he finds himself the object of his own worship. With this new conception he is necessarily “thrilled into intoxication,” and finds within himself the power to “mold the physical into sweeter graces.” This makes him his own counselor, his own leader, his own savior, eliminates Jesus Christ from the present life and future destiny of man, and abolishes even the Creator himself from the heart and mind thus “intoxicated.” It is one of the most seductive teachings of the times, and because it satisfies the cravings of the natural heart, the secular press is promulgating it far and wide. The idolatry of nature and the idolatry of self go hand in hand.