“THEIR LAND IS FULL OF IDOLS.”
By G. C. Tenney
NO MORE graphic description of any time was ever written by a historian than was given of our time by the prophet of old when he penned the second chapter of Isaiah. This and the two succeeding chapters furnish food for the most sober reflection upon the part of this generation. Alas, that it is so little heeded! The chapter opens with a glowing picture of a popular church in the last days. “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” This is a positive prediction that ecclesiastical authority will be established in the heights of civil power. The present movement, to Christianize the citizenship of the governments of earth and to enthrone Jesus as Arbiter of nations, or some similar movement, is certain to succeed so far as human effort and the consent of nations, without the divine sanction, can make it a success. There will be more talk of peace, of arbitration, and of human brotherhood, and more awful preparation for war. (Compare Isa. 2:4 with Joel 3:10.) We have no occasion to impugn, nor even to question, the motives of those who are engaged in pushing on this swelling tide of a popular demand for the recognition by the nations of the Christian religion. But that they are mistaken is made as clear as Inspiration could write it. The effort to popularize religion is a blow at its vital power. The success of the effort sacrifices the divine approval. Read verses 6-9 of Isaiah 2, just referred to: “Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made; and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; therefore forgive them not.” The Revised Version reads, “Because they be filled with customs from the East.” Oriental religions, encouraged by the Congress of Religions held in connection with the late Chicago World’s Fair, have filled the Christian world with the savor of their pleasing sophistries. Plenty of pretended Christian teachers will tell us that Gautama or Confucius stands on an equality with Christ. We are taught to believe that the Shastas, the Koran, and the Bible are all on a par. The customs and religions of the East are exerting an immeasurable influence over a popular church. Silver and gold lie cankering in heaps, and millions are being constantly added to the coffers of the rich. Horses were never so plentiful as now; and chariots of all kinds, from the rushing railway train to the ubiquitous bicycle, are everywhere in evidence. So far the picture is complete. “Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.” Idolatry is generally supposed to be characteristic of heathendom. If it be so, no country is nearer heathenism than our own fair land; for in no part of the world is idolatry more universal than in America. And, sad to say, ours is the worst form—it is self-worship. The great fairs that are held at such an enormous expense are apparently and practically for the purpose of the laudation of men. Nations, states, cities, and individuals vie in the strongest competition for supremacy and praise. Gold medals are flourished as tokens of triumph over all competitors; but God is forgotten. Works of art, of literature, of science, or genius are praised, and become the pillars on which human pride perches itself aloft. Palatial mansions are monuments of pride. Fine furniture and pleasant pictures awaken the envy of those who can not get them; and observe the thought—and we may say the devotion—of those who can own them. The world to-day presents a scene of strife for vain-glory. Hero-worship is far more prevalent than the worship of God. I would not overdraw this picture. It does no good to exaggerate the evil. But it is hardly possible to make it stronger than God has done; and we shall be false to our highest interest and to our most sacred obligations, if we do not look at it as it is. That we have reached a most solemn time in our world’s history is startlingly evident on every side. It is painfully impressed upon us by the solemn prayer with which the verses quoted above close: “Therefore forgive them not.” Human pride is certainly a heinous sin. In the last days it is to be all-prevailing, and “the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Isa. 2:12. No wonder, then, that the Lord calls upon His people to “seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zeph. 2:3.